THE DESCENDANTS

[Amberlovesfilm]

The Descendants is such a neatly-intertwined and bittersweet story that it has deeply touched my heart strings. Just as Matt King said, though tourists tend to associate Hawaii with just happiness and peace, life is every bit as real and cruel in Hawaii as it is anywhere else. The story starts with the tragic boat accident of Matt King’s wife Elizabeth. Instead of turning into a cheesy and melodramatic story which reminisces about the perfect and sweet life of the Kings, the movie told the audience the hard truth of this family. Matt’s life is a mess besides the fact that Elizabeth was about to die. His marriage with Elizabeth was going through crisis since Matt was often out working and paid little attention to his wife. What Alexandra later told Matt only made it worse for Matt to handle. He realized that Elizabeth cheated on him, and was about to ask him for a divorce if the accident did not happen. His teenage daughter Alexandra is going through a rebellious phase, and as to the younger one, Scottie, Matt sometimes does not even understand her.

It would be so much easier for Matt if his life has always been like this, but the truth is that he used to be so close with his wife and his girls, and they used to be happy together. Just as Matt said, family is like an archipelago, all parts of the same whole, but still separate and alone and always drifting slowly apart. When I almost start to believe that the theme of the movie is about how to accept the hard truth of family, things took a turn when Alexandra told Matt about Elizabeth’s affair. It turned out that the reason why Alexandra fought with Elizabeth all the time is that she felt sorry for Matt. Later, when Alexandra assisted Matt in finding and confronting Brian Speer, her love and loyalty to Matt was so sweet, and the interaction between Matt and Alexandra was so natural that one could be convinced that blood is thicker than water, and the tie between family members is invisible yet strong.

What amazing about this film is that besides the plot of the reconciliation between family members, it also manages to tell the story between the land and people. But in some sense, the land actually symbolizes the heritage and tradition of the ancestors. Matt may not know his ancestors, but as he gazed through the pictures of them on the wall, he must have realized that there are some unsaid connections between the past and the present, between the forefathers and his children, between the land and his family, so he decided to keep the land. At the end of the movie, Matt and his daughters said goodbye to Elizabeth, and they were sitting on the sofa together and sharing a bucket of ice cream. At that point I believed that his family never really drifted apart.

[Faisal0300]

I think that both Matt and Elizabeth have a great personality, but they do not have something in common,so their marriage failed. In order to have a successful marriage, the couple should have something in common such as goal, faith, and personality that helps their marriage to last for ever. Scottie and Alexandra had a difficult situation, but they could handle it by a great patience especially Alexandra who supported and encouraged her father, and she acted as a mature woman. Matt refused to sell the land because he felt that the land is his child, and he must protect and save it for ever.

[Heidi Yin]

<The Descendants> has a happy ending, technically speaking it is a comedy, but still feel a little bit sad about the story.

The story takes place in the paradise of Hawaii. The native islander Matt King lives a happy life with his family in Hawaii. Their world was suddenly destroyed when a tragic accident comes to her wife, and leaves her in a coma. This is not the only thing that faced by Matt, he soon learns that his wife had been having an affair with another man, and also he had been told by the doctor, his wife will not survive her coma. As he begins to tell those closest family members or friends that his wife will soon die, he also decided to seek out his wife’s lover, the man he suspects she truly loved, and give him a chance to say goodbye.

The father Matt is not only the person who have to deal with this family crisis. Both two daughters also have to face it bravely. Especially the little daughter, she is so young that she might not understand everything that is happening to her life. But finally, the two daughters accept the reality and say the last goodbye to their dear mom.

At the end, Matt decides not to sale their land. One of the reason, of course he does not want his wife’s affair make a lot of money by doing the transfer thing. The biggest/important reason behind this final decision, is the precious memory of that land. I guess Matt want to keep that sweet memory for the rest of their lives.

[brenda]

The descendants


The story it’s about Matthew King a business man that was married to Elizabeth Thorson, their marriage wasn’t very successful because Matthew was all day working, more lately than usual because he and his cousins were planning to sell one land of Hawaii, so he´s wife was alone all day and she was cheating on him. So when Elizabeth had the accident that leaves her in coma Matthew discovered.

Matthew have two daughters Scotty and Alexandra, so when their mom was at the hospital he brings Alexandra from her school to home so the whole family could fight against all the difficulties that the movie presents us.

While Elizabeth was at the hospital the business of the land was underway, but then Matthew discovered that one of the people involved whit the business was the guy who had an affair with him wife, so there were moments in the movie when he don’t wanted to sell the land because of him, but he realizes that a lot of members of him family would be benefitted, and some of them really need it, so he decides to be agree with the selling of the land because he knows that the family goes first.

This is a dramatic movie, it’s really touching because they show us the importance of the family, maybe they could be far away for some time, but when the hard times arrives they are always there for you. I liked that it’s not a perfect ending because Elizabeth don’t get better, but it’s a happy ending because the family was already broken and they get closer than ever at the end.

[Shirley]

Hi Mike, sorry for my late reflection. In this movie, Matt and Elizabeth's marriage is already on the verge of splitting up before Elizabeth fell into coma. Matt was too busy with his job to take care of his family, and Elizabeth had a secret romance with a real estate agent, and she even intended to leave her husband. Therefore their marriage exist in name only. Although Matt realized there were some problems in his marriage, he didn't realize it's so bad until Alexandra told him about the secret guy.

In fact, it's really difficult for Alexandra and Scotty to face this family crisis, because they are too young, especially Scotty. Acting rebelliously and weirdly first, Alexandra told her father about her mother's secret after she was informed that her mother was dying. After that, she acted like a real adult, stand on the side of her father, and help her father to find the real estate agent, and deal with the remaining things. Scotty was too young, so she just reacted directly to what she knows, when she was angry, she raged on; when she knows that her mum was dying, she cried.

In my opinion, THE DESCENDANTS has a slow pace and simple plot, but meticulous emotional line. Many families may have this sort of problem, and they may do what Matt did.

[JuniE]

Matt is busy doing his work. In his opinion, providing material wealth and stable status is the best he can give to his family. Gradually he and his family becomes distant. Elizabeth is lonely without his husband around, so she starts to have an affair with another guy. There marriage is perfectly happy from other people's perspective, yet in the essence, they are not close to each other and they are more like two irrelevant people living in the same house. Their two daughters also have many problems with their life and values.

Facing this trouble, Scottie actually do not quite understand the seriousness of her mother's death. She even brings her friend to see her mother because her friend do not believe her mom is dead. Alexandra decided never to talk with her mother after discovering her affair with another man. She indulge herself in drugs and dirty words. But in the end she forgives her mother.
Matt King finally decides to maintain the land and not sell it. He decides to find a way to keep it because it means a lot to him. And he wants to keep it instead of selling it.

Matt's wife had an car accident and is dying. Meanwhile, he found out that her wife is having an affair with a land manager. Matt has to decide whether to forgive them and ask that guy to the funeral or not. And he is also having great difficulties in finding a way to make connections with his two daughter Scottie and Alexandra. Later he discovers that his elder daughter has already known her mother's affair and they decide to solve this thing together. In the end of the movie, Matt decides not to sell the land and his relationship with her daughters becomes better and better.
I think it's a movie that needs patience to see the value of it. It deals with a family problem that everyone may encounter. Matt has to struggle between forgiveness and never forgiving her wife. However, in the end he understand that it is partially his fault because he has taken what he has for granted too much, including the land, his wife and daughters. He never thought of losing them one day, neither did he make much efforts to "maintain" them. The death of his wife teaches him to cherish and to make efforts to protect things that is meaningful to him. On the whole, I think it's a very thought-provoking movie.

[Khalil]

The Descendants is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne. The screenplay by Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash is based on the novel of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings. Wikipedia

My opinion about The Descendant movie. First, i liked where the movie filmed because Hawaii is a beautiful place. Second,I also liked the story, because the story was different its was about a man figuring out the relationship between him and his wife who had a car accented. But also he had to deal with his two daughters.

I would give the movie 6.9 because sometime there was boring parts, it wasn't necessary.

[kaanmetin]

Before Elizabeth got into a coma, she was already planning to break up with Matt. Their relationship was in trouble. There was no love and no attraction between each other.

They both had problems in school and become aggressive. Alexandra handled the situation and helped her father and sister in terms of supporting

After facing with emotional problems, Matt experiences the intangible, moral part of life and doesn’t want to be a part of the get-rich-quick-scheme. Also, he realizes the moral value of his land and wants to keep it for his ‘’descendants’’.

Film is between ‘’Sunday Afternoon’’ and ‘’Think-Hard’’ genre with average acting. Although there are some inconclusive emotional parts, it was quiet satisfactory. Besides, I really liked the soundtracks. Slack key guitar music is so appropriate with the scenario.