Thelma & Louise

The film of Thelma and Louise is the story of a journey and a transformation of two women, verging on middle-age, who finally found themselves and had the courage to face the crumbling, sorry shell of an existence they’ve always known as “their lives.” In their fight to defy that existence, they pay a high price but it is a decision in which they will probably never regret making.

This film which started off prosaically enough, fooled the viewer into a comfortable little nook at the beginning and its humble small town feel belie its ultimate transcendent messages of transformation, of breaking free, of fighting back, of embracing liberty. You see two women, good friends, yapping at each other over the phone, planning a weekend getaway. One woman, as you can see is a neat, tidy woman, always in control. The other woman is a loosey-goosey sort, scatterbrained, packs for a 10 day vacation when she is only out of town for two. The two women couldn’t be more different, but you also know that this is the right dynamic for the relationship to work.

From that point on when they roar off into the streets, there was no turning back – though they didn’t know it quite just yet. Neither, for that matter, do the viewers.

The first turning point which turned the girls into a tailspin was when Louise shoots a would-be rapist of Thelma dead on the spot. The girls have now irrevocably stepped over the line between their past lives and their future incarnations. Living life as a fugitive, on the run from the law, had its high points. They’ve lost all chances of turning back but when they were honest with themselves, they didn’t really want to turn back all that much anyway.

A series of other unfortunate events led the girls deeper into the path they had accidentally strayed onto. In between reflections on their vastly transformed selves, they actually take moments to enjoy the freedom of where they find themselves. At one point, they were driving down the freeway and they marveled to each other that it was “some” vacation they had been on. Then they grinned at each other and they shared a wonderful moment of complete camaraderie.

The final scene in the film was brilliant and beautiful. As had been evident for some time now, they crossed a line way back when and there was no turning back for them, either physically, metaphysically, socially, psychologically, whatever. There was beauty in the simplicity of having no choice but to go forward. And go forward they did, into the abyss, into the future, into an infinity that awaits.