I don’t remember shedding a tear the first time I saw Juno, but the other night, it made me cry.
During one of my shopping expeditions, I discovered a book sale cum dvd shop atop the Zagu stall in Shopping Center. I only know of the one near the Post Office, and I do not know how long they have been there. My housemate wanted to look for a copy of Mice and Men starring John Malkovich and the old version of Romeo and Juliet – Claire Danes and Leonardo di Caprio starrer – so I looked at the titles and found Sofia Coppola’s Virgin Suicides, as well as El Topo and La Misma Luna. Okay, digressing...
I returned to the shop one afternoon and found a copy of Juno, among others. I have already seen it a few years back but my housemate wanted to watch it, so I bought it. That night, M was outvoted so we watched Juno.
Juno tells the story of the lead character’s (Ellen Page) unplanned pregnancy by her friend Bleeker (Michael Cera). After finding out that she was pregnant, she decided to “take care of it.” Her classmate tried to dissuade her by telling her that the baby already has fingernails, and this made her change her mind. She told her parents that she would go through with the pregnancy and give the baby up for adoption. She found an ad placed by the seemingly-perfect couple Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanesssa (Jennifer Garner).
One look at Mark and you will see that he is not enthusiastic about having the baby. As he spends time with Juno, he realizes that he is no more than a child himself and that his dreams are different from his wife’s. Whereas Vanessa is sure that she is meant to be a mother, Mark is sure that he is meant to be a musician.
Although there is love story, Juno is primarily a commentary about being a mother. There are three mothers in the movie – Juno, Vanessa and Brenda (Allison Janney). Brenda is Juno’s stepmother. Of the three, and in relation to each other, only Juno is a mother in the traditional sense of the word. She is after all the one who is carrying a child.
But Vanessa wants to be and becomes a mother, too. She and husband Mark have been trying to get pregnant for a long time but without success. They have tried to adopt a baby, too, but that also failed. Hence on their first meeting, she wanted to know whether Juno is sure about her decision of giving the baby up. Vanessa comes off as a control freak at first, someone you wouldn’t like. But she is dead set on being a mother even at the point of risking her marriage.
Brenda is Juno’s stepmom who loves her like a real mom would and defends her from the world, such as the judgmental ultrasound technician. She takes care of Juno and sacrificed her love for dogs because Juno is allergic to their saliva.
Okay, so why am I so affected by this movie? Because I did not understand being a mother until I lost one and I became one. Because being a mother is knowing when to hold on and when to let go. Being a mother means giving a part of your heart away, and letting that part grow, walk, learn, stumble, fall, stand up on its own because that part has its own life to live.
And because watching the movie has made me realize that I am beginning to understand how it is to become a mom, I cried. ###
P.S.
E went home to the province today. There goes my heart. :(
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