Seamus Robinson - The Fountain

 The Fountain released in 2006 and takes place from three separate perspectives of time: past, present; and future. We follow various explorers from each of these time periods who are in search of a "tree of life" in order to obtain eternal life and youth. Eventually we see each explorer and each storyline link together as they are each on a quest for the same thing, some for themselves and some to give it to others.

Each of these characters and explorers are obsessed with finding the tree of life, so much so that the Christian explorer is sacrificed after having drunk from the tree of life, along with many of the other explorers. The obsession of all these individuals with eternal life being so great that they would kill and be killed for it is entirely ironic. They are so afraid of death and so concerned with preserving life that they never actually get to enjoy it.

Similar to other explorers, Tommy is obsessed with avoiding death and with preserving life. The arc of the story in The Fountain follows Tommy all the way through him eating the bark of the tree and living to hundreds of years old and rejuvenating the tree in a dying star. The irony of the film is that as much as it focuses time on discussing life and the pursuit of it, the ultimate message of the film is to accept death as a part of creation. The climax of the film is Tommy finally being able to accept death after struggling with the pain of it throughout the film. Upon accepting death, Tom Creo interacts with Tomas' storyline the scene appears to depict Tom teleporting back in time to reveal himself as the first father to a chieftain. This act is truthfully a creation story. The present day Tommy gets to interact with future "Tom" as a creation of a new timeline where the Chieftain sacrifices himself instead of killing Tomas. Ultimately these scenes teach us not to view death as an ending to be feared, but rather as an opportunity for new beginnings.

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