I would describe very few films as ‘a meditation,’ but Uncle Boonmee is truly a meditation on what we pursue in this life and what we take with us to the afterlife. On its’ surface it’s a film about a man who is dealing with death. He has an injury which is slowly taking his life, so he spends his last days on his bee farm with his remaining family. While there, they are visited by people from his past who have also died. When Boonmee is faced with death, he becomes reflective on his past, the people who have come and gone, and how he is going to move onto the next.

It delves into what makes us keep moving, while at the same time looking at what shaped us in the past. It’s profound in its simplicity. It caused me to reflect on my own short existence and what has shaped me into who I am. It suggests that what has made us into what we are today, has also shaped our ambitions for the future. This can be past tragedies, and also people from our past. It allows the audience to feel this on their own, and never explicitly says that part of the joy in the present is found in the past.

Throughout the film, this family is visited by haunting spirits. In my opinion, these spirits represent the unknown in life. Life is filled with mysteries that we may never find out, and those mysteries can frighten us. One of the mysteries in Boonmee’s life was connected to his son. His son ran away from home in search of meaning, and was never heard from again. In the film, his son comes back as one of these spirits, expressing how the mysteries of life can be haunting, but must be accepted for what they are before they can be found out.

The end portrays the decision we make either to be petrified by the fear of the unknown, or continue on into the unknown to the best of our abilities. It also shows that in the light of fear and uncertainty, we are stripped down to our most basic humanity, and our constructed image melts away.