Great flick

Last night, Garrett & I watched an amazing movie, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. Everything about this movie is terrific - it tells a compelling (but sad) story about a remarkable man, the filmmaking is beautiful, the score is lovely, the acting is great. Director Julian Schnabel is a genius.

The story is about Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a brain-stem stroke and was paralyzed from head to toe. Locked into his body (as if in a diving bell), he kept his mind active through his imagination and memory. Schnabel's portrayal of this and of how Jean-Do wrote a book about it is simply extraordinary. Jean-Do's only means of communication was by blinking his left eye. To write the book, a transcriptionist recited a series of letters and Jean-Do would blink when she got to the letter he wanted. I'll write more about the book when I've finished it. In the meantime, rent the movie and watch it. And then watch it again.

UPDATE: The book is also an amazing testament to Jean-Do's resiliency in the face of an unimaginable tragedy. It increased my admiration for Julian Schnabel in his ability to translate the book into such an amazing movie.