Review of Seven Pounds: The Movie

How far would you go to assuage your guilt?

 
This is the question raised by the film “Seven Pounds”, starring Will Smith, Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson.

 
Consider if you will the words “I am sorry”. While they convey the intent of apology, they fall far short of reparation for a wrong having been committed. There are times in our lives when we must – in order to call ourselves human – do more.

 
Will Smith portrays Ben Thomas, an IRS agent with a secret, who devotes his time and energy to changing the lives of several strangers in a journey of redemption. During his quest for penance he meets and comes to love a young woman (Rosario Dawson) with a heart condition who reignites his humanity as he brings about changes in her circumstance that allow her to live fully once more.

 
As a morality tale, this movie is just a bit self-indulgent, using a convoluted structure to showcase incidents which eventually thread together in the finale, when all becomes clear. The somber tone does get a bit heavy, but Will Smith is such a likable movie star that we, as an audience, are willing to go along for the dark ride, just to see how it comes together. Melodrama is difficult to do well, and Smith proves in this film that he is in fact a movie star, rather than an actor. Throwing away his goofy, Smith settles for stern and serious.

 
Dawson, for her part, mines the tragic nature of her Poe-like character and comes up with depth and humanity, her bluish cast and dark eyes adding a layer of fragility to her stunning good looks.

 
The conclusion of the film can be seen by some to be maudlin, this reviewer included; however, having waited for the culmination moment, we can hope that instead of seeing a movie star chewing the scenery we see a human in moral and ethical pain. Moreover, we are not disappointed. Despite learning everything you need to know to guess how the movie will end in the first ten minutes or so, this reviewer felt a pounding on my heart at the culmination, and when the final lights went up in the theater, a momentary rest was needed to pull myself together sufficiently to exit the theater. Surprise twist is not the desired effect here; the movie’s magic is all in the execution.

 
Not that it is perfect. Any movie about death and taxes (literally) is likely to be maudlin, and this one is no exception. At times it felt a bit like a secular Hollywood passion play, and the audience is manipulated a bit by the plotline, (see what we did there?) but the resultant payoff leaves little room to doubt that Smith’s character is a man of extraordinary compassion, insight, and self-sacrifice.