The Unbearable Lightness of Being - It is Better to Carry a Heavy Load

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - It is Better to Carry a Heavy LoadIs it better to confine a heavy load on your shoulders, or cope with the unbearable lightness of organism? Phillip Kaufman coupled brilliant film techniques with wonderful acting to ramble together the film The Unbearable Lightness of Being based off of Milan Kunderas novel of the same title. The film is set in Prague during the spring of 1968. At this snip the Russians are still trying to exercise their communist control over Czechoslovakia, and Prague is a city filled with political uprisings and violent outbursts from the Czech people. Within the pictorial matter and the plot, Kaufman and Kundera want to help us answer the question, is it better to carry a heavy load on your shoulders, or cope with the unbearable lightness of being? The answer comes to us through watching the love triangle that is built around Sabina, Tereza, and Tomas. Sabina is our example of the individual who would rather cope with the unbearable lightness of being than deal with all of the maladies of everyday life. Tereza on the other hand fully accepts the world around her, whether it is pleasant or not. The movie uses their artwork, their concern for political issues, and their relationships with doubting Thomas to contrast Sabina and Tereza. Sabina represents the individual who would rather ignore reality and cope with the wonderful delusion that replaces it. Her relationship with Tomas is the first example we are presented of Sabinas inclination to avoid the truth. In the beginning of the film Tomas is shown to be what we would call a player. The very first scene of the film is of him leaving his doctoral responsibilities to join one of his nurses in the doctors accommodate to have sex. It ... ...mas and choice to carry the burden was the better choice being as that Tomas chose to stay with her than with Sabina. In the end, when the couple is removed from the city and they live in their own little isolat ed world, we see the extent of their happiness. In the very last scene of the movie, Tomas and Tereza look at each other, and each confesses that they are only happy. Their happiness is an affirmation that it is better to carry a heavy load on your shoulders than to cope with the unbearable lightness of being. All you have to do is anticipate that one day the load gets lighter as it did for Tomas and Tereza. Work CitedKundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness of Being A Lovers Story. Trans. Henry Michael Hiem. New York Harper, 1984. Work ConsultedBanerjee, Maria Nemcova. term Paradox The Novels of Milan Kundera. New York Grove, 1990.