Let’s fly together

    First, imagine being happily married to your unique childhood friend, sharing all your dreams with that person who has grown up next to you, building a life together in a cosy house. And then, imagine being alone in that same field where you have seeded that dream with your recently gone soulmate. Could you be polite and thankful for the rest of your life? And could you keep the idea of making your dreams come true? Of course not! You’d become a lonely hopeless ogre. 

    This is the case of Carl Fredricksen, an old, grumpy widower who is letting life pass through him, having no relationships or emotions because of the loss of his beloved wife Ellie. Accidentally, he gets involved in a relationship with an insistent but well-educated scout-boy called Russell, who knocks at his door offering his not so unconditional help. And there the adventure starts, showing how important social relationships are. This is well shown in the movie “Up”, directed in 2007 by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios, in which Carl and Russell are the main characters.

    As Carl is going to be put in a retirement village and his house is going to be destroyed, he decides to escape with the only thing he loves, his house. Guess how! He inflates lots of balloons with helium and his house takes off with him inside and flies away straight to his and Ellie’s dreamed place, Paradise Falls in South America. He has nothing to lose but to make their dream come true at last. It is well-known that dreams are an aid people need to survive. And that is what Carl thinks he needs to give his life a twist.

    But who has ever made a house fly? What made Carl believe that he could do it? Do you think he has watched the movie “I’ve got the power” by Jim Carrey? I don’t think so either. However, Carl doesn’t know that Russell is there too! This little chubby Asian boy wants to get his last scout-pin, so he insists on helping this old man. Human beings have been created to share their lives with somebody else –for good or for bad, indeed! And during this cloudy travel, Carl realizes that he needs Russell for good.  This old man starts learning to care about somebody else besides himself, and it is Russell.  As soon as he begins to look after this boy, their relationship grows in leaps and bounds. You can see, almost at the end of this adventure, that they find a bad scientist who puts in danger Carl’s house as well as Russell’s life. So Carl has to make a hard decision between saving Russell or saving his house --something so valuable for him-- from death, and he chooses Russell. As Carl says, “It’s only a house”. While things come and go, social relationships last forever. No matter how much you have or how old you are, but how much you care about somebody else besides yourself.

   Although you may be thinking about relationships are only among human beings, it is demonstrated that animals, especially dogs, are great and unique beings which are able to provide excellent friendship to people. According to a piece of news written in Clarin, a group of researchers in Japan sustains the hypothesis that the sight between a dog and its master is like the one between a baby and his mother. What a coincidence with this movie, as Carl and Russell meet an amicable dog in their adventure in Venezuela, and the first thing they do is to look at each other’s eyes. At the beginning, Carl does not understand the need of its company and wants to lose it. But Russell, who is more innocent and pure, understands the dog and wants to keep it. They discuss several times because of that dog. But at the end, it becomes their loyal friend and guides them safety along Venezuela. This casual four-legs-mate has helped Carl not only to understand how important is to be fond of somebody else but also to get to know Russell deeply.

    The dreamed mission is done, and Carl does not return in the same way he has started it, but in a better one. He will not be alone anymore and he will not need another dream to live for, but to go on feeding this new amazing relationship with Russell, and the dog. Carl knew something awesome was about to start since he saw this cute boy promising with his heart at the beginning of their adventure. That was the same way he used to promise to Ellie, making a cross over his heart! How many good memories!  Although he will never forget his beloved wife, he knows he has a new unconditional friend forever, to remember their old adventure as well as to share the new ones for the rest of their lives, together.

     As Carl already knows, the only engine he needs to go on living is to be sociable and to be interested in somebody else besides himself. So we should stop for a minute and think about it.  What Carl would you like to become in, the first or the second one? I’m sure that after having read all this, you’ll do your best to be affable enough for every second of the rest of your life, won’t you? Then do not tell me I have not warned you!