BY ISAAC HAN

In print | Published January 22, 2009

In the midst of the current award-season buzz, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has turned more than just a couple of heads. Based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story of the same name, the film tells the story of a man who is born old and ages backward to infancy. While “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” ultimately lives up to its Oscar buzz, more than just an interesting story and good performances position this film with the Oscar-worthy; its merits as a project largely lie within its innovative technical execution.

Among the most fascinating uses of technology in this film are the photo and visual techniques that allow Brad Pitt to cheat time: Pitt is present at all stages in the movie due to a masterful and advanced use of photoshopping. Pitt’s altered head is placed on the bodies of other actors, allowing him to play his character at all stages of life, from old age to infancy. Expertly executed, this technology allows the film to visually represent a man who defies the constraints of time, allowing the Brad Pitt of the present to become past, present and future versions of his character.

The photo technology exploited in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has its roots in past films like the 1995 Oscar winner “Forrest Gump,” a film that similarly uses photoshopping to map out an otherwise inexpressible narrative. “Forrest Gump” is well known for scenes in which Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) is edited into actual historical videos, making it look like he was a real person who was actually present at the events portrayed. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” takes this technology a step further in order to make Benjamin Button come to life on the silver screen.

Aside from its recognition by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its innovative and masterful use of film technology, Fincher’s film allows us to experience the life and curiosity of Benjamin Button and to look at our own lives and how we try to cheat age in the real world.

The technology used to create Benjamin Button is the same technology used by people to see how they will look when, for example, they are older, or if they keep smoking or drinking. People are fascinated by how they age, and one of the great ironies of life is that the young want to grow older quickly and become grown-ups, but when grown, all anybody wants to do is become young again.

Fincher’s film allows us to explore how it feels to age backward while everyone else ages normally. It demonstrates how a fountain of youth makes life different, while also showing that death is inevitable no matter how you age or how you live. It also shows us that old age and infancy are not as different as everyone makes them out to be; even as he ages backward, Benjamin Button is dependent on others and incapable of living independently, both at the beginning and end of his life.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is a compelling and innovative by both industry and popular standards. It deserves its Oscar buzz because it most aptly executes its use of film technology to tell a brilliant narrative. The film is worth seeing both for its amazing film production techniques and for the experience it offers of the inevitability of death, even in a life that defies age and time.

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