Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

21 Grams stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benecio del Toro in a twisted tale of love, guilt, redemption, and revenge. The title 㢹 Grams’ comes from the theory that the human soul weighs 21 grams. Back in the early 1900's, scientists had a bunch of terminally ill patients who agreed to have weigh scales hooked up to their beds. For every single person, regardless of size, sex, or race, at the exact moment of death they all lost exactly 21 grams of weight. Same tests done with animals didn't show any immediate weight loss. This movie asks how much does 21 grams weigh? When it is lost, what goes with it? How much life can you fit in 21 grams?

In this movie, Sean Penn is a heart patient waiting on a donor. His wife wants to get pregnant by him before he dies, only she is unable due to a botched abortion from years ago. Benecio del Toro is a former ex-con who became a religious zealot and now does ministry to juvenile hall kids. Naomi Watts is a happily married woman with two young daughters, though some secrets from her past are revealed later in the movie. This is a story about a group of damaged people.

The complicated plot goes something like this - Benecio accidentally runs down Naomi Watt's husband and two little girls, killing them all. He turns himself in to the police and begins to question his faith, thinking that God wished the accident upon him. Sean Penn gets the donor heart from Naomi's husband, then hires a private investigator to found out where the heart came from since the hospital won't tell him. When he realizes that a man and two girls had to die for him to get the heart, he becomes so stricken with guilt that he wants to kill himself. He then looks up Naomi Watts and tries to find a way to thank her, but unexpectedly falls in love with her, all the while waiting for the right moment to say, “I’ve got your husband's heart.” On top of all that, Sean and Naomi decide that Benecio is to blame for all their troubles and they set out to kill him once he gets out of jail. Those are just the major plot lines – there’s several other subplots going on with lesser characters.

The acting here is top notch, and I was surprised to see Naomi Watts’ riveting performance. In one scene toward the end, she breaks down into a screaming fit. At the Oscars, they played a clip of this scene when she was nominated for best actress. While I have never been a big fan of Sean Penn, I will admit that he is a great actor, although he plays basically the same role here as he did in Mystic River. It is almost like seeing the same guy, minus all the tattoos. Benecio del Toro is also excellent as the ex-con turned holy man, and he looks the part he’s playing.

If it were not for excellent acting and direction along with clever editing, 21 Grams could have been a boring movie. It is edited a lot like the movie Memento, where we are shown a bit of the future, then a longer set of scenes leading up to that future event. For the first half hour, the movie jumps from character to character, developing their background and setting the stage for all the events which occur between in them. Until that first thirty or forty minutes has passed, you really don’t know what is going on in this movie.

Despite its slow pacing and confusing timeline, 21 Grams is one of the more interesting movies I’ve seen in a while. I cannot say that I enjoyed it because this is not an enjoyable story. From an artistic standpoint, this movie deserves great merit based on originality. Be warned – 21 grams is a very dark drama that will leave you with an uneasy feeling when it’s over. Good art is supposed to effect you physically, and this film certainly will.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age