“The Hummingbird Project” dropped from above into my heart on a gray day of restrictions. This film raised several questions in my mind: What is the value of time? What if I think I have all the time in the world to accomplish what I want to do, but my circuits short out too early? What if someone else beats me to the prize? My life’s goal is trashed. What if the Amish convince me to drop out of this complex world of capitalism, which drives me ever faster to accomplish what think I need to do before my expiration date?
Vincent, played by Jesse Eisenburg in this film, is stressed to the breaking point when he seeks some relief from his own devils of success and speed. He is a young technocrat who is diagnosed with stomach cancer. He experiences the certitude of his death as his body rests exhausted in a massage therapy session. During massage Vincent’s soul is freed to wander and it can unburden itself. He begins to accept that he will soon be untimely ripped from the womb of his existence. He should have a long life in front of him, but he doesn’t.
Vincent knows that he will succumb to his disease and eventually stop moving at all. Jesse learns that life is more important than success and he begins to relate like an uncle should to his two nieces. Vincent respects religious belief when he instructs his crew to remove a fiber stream from the deep underground of an Amish farmer’s field. Some things are more important than money, more significant than success.
I saw a hummingbird this morning dancing among the pansies growing abundantly in the hanging basket next to my birdfeeder. He’s not worried abut time. No, just living, just living.