Reign Over Me

I just watched a very impacting movie - Reign Over Me. The plot line is simple - Charlie (played by Adam Sandler) lost his family in one of the planes on 9/11. His college roommate - Alan (Don Cheadle) meets up with Charlie randomly and tries to rekindle their friendship. The post traumatic stress on Charlie is overwhelming, even to the point he doesn't remember his college roommate whom he lived with for 2 years. Charlie's life is in shambles, and the movie takes the audience through his world of no friends, and the pain from the tragedy in his life. Charlie won't open up to anyone, but Alan.

Many time throughout the movie, Charlie is rude to Alan, forceful and physical with confrontations. Charlie is insensitive and often just oblivious to others around him. But the amazing thing is how Alan sees through it all. He understands the pain in Charlie's life and all unfortunate encounters with Charlie are just sluffed off. As Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity," Alan sticks with Charlie and is very powerful in his healing process. And in the process of helping Charlie, Alan learns somethings about his own life.

I won't lie, I had tears in my eyes - the movie impacted me greatly. I don't know why. I don't have any friends going through that type of stress that I know of. But watching how Charlie was so flaky, and treated Alan with such insensitivity, makes me wonder how much I would persevere. Would I be able to see straight to the pain, or would I get caught up in the symptoms? This movie made me do a gut check. I'd encourage anyone else who reads my blog - all 2 of you - to check it out.