American Beauty
"American Beauty" is also one of my favorite movies. It has so many layers, and so many ways of symbolic interpretations,- just like the movies of my favorite directors, Fellini, Terry Gilliam, and so many more...
When one thinks about leafs changing colors, one also knows: trees will get their glory back as summer comes. This is just a part of the whole circle of life. Demetra and Gelios getting into it, if you wish:)
And once upon a time, there was Lester, the main hero of the "American Beauty", the pioneer who showed so many the way of free and happy self awareness. I see him by the end of the movie as the the person who just started experiencing the joy of life,- may be, for the first time in his adult life,- and had been had been cut down, like a tree, in this"satori" moment of his life, by the sadistic militant homophobic specimen, - who was, of course, also closeted gay,- and the bitter irony of this twist stays with you, together with the beauty of the movie. Lester was not gay. Now, he could have been. And, he was not. And he was killed for rejecting advances of this poor abusive creature,- the father of Lester's' daughter's lover. And, this poor militant sadist, in the community that was less homophobic than the army (do you remember this nauseating hypocritical statement,"Don't ask, don't tell"?) could've done much better than staying in the closet for his whole life,- and coming out of this closet with a cleaver.
The leafs reincarnate every year. Trunks stand bare through the tough seasons.Do you think, human beings are capable of following the way of trees?