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Despite all the advances modern science has brought, people still tend to talk about the good old days. Things like how long humans used to live often get thrown into the discussion. They claim that Adam lived to the age of 930 and that Bhishma fought in the Kurukshetra war at the age of 108. This is quite unbelievable, as, logically, people had very short lifespans. For a long time, even into the 1900s, life expectancy was about 32 years.
And to believe that our ancient civilisation had far more knowledge than we do now is quite far-fetched. To say that traditional medicine was safe and effective is ludicrous. To cling to the memory of an imagined glorious past is even sillier. Man has never had it so good as they do in the 21st century.
To be obsessed with the past is detrimental, at least that was thought in the late 17th century. A Swiss doctor, Johannes Hofer, in his dissertation, posited that the mobile class of people like students, sailors and soldiers suffered from nostalgia disease, a debilitating condition which wasted them away and eventually led to their death. In modern times, however, psychologists view the effects of nostalgia as something positive and healthy. Nostalgia, by motivating us to remember the past in our own life, helps us to unite with that authentic self and remind us of who we have been and then compare that to who we feel we are today.' Nostalgia is not only good for your mental health but can help create and sustain meaning in your life.
In this noir drama, a movie based on Henry James' 'The Aspen Papers' (1888), we are told of the great love letters written by Jeffrey Ashton to a Venetian heiress, Juliana Bordereau. It is said to have been written so beautifully that a New York publisher wants to lay his hands on them and publish them for mankind to savour. The poet has died, but his lover, at 105, still has the letters. The publisher devises a scheme to gain entry to Ms Bordereau's palazzo by masquerading as a tenant. He plans to steal the secret love letters. Ms Bordereau lives with her great-niece, Tina, who has dissociative personality disorder. Sometimes, Tina thinks she is a younger version of her great-aunt, Juliana.
Things turned out not so straightforward. It becomes a tale of admiration and exploitation, of moral decency and the question of faded grandeur. 6/10.
Farouk Gulsara (asokansham@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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