Summary:
Reviews the movie "East of Eden," made in 1955 and directed by Elia Kazan. Discusses the plot of the Academy Award winning film, based on the John Steinbeck novel. Compares the film to the biblical story of Caine and Able.
The movie "East of Eden" was made in 1955 but is an all time classic. It was based on John Steinbeck's novel of the same name. The novel was a winner of Nobel Prize for Literature, and the movie also won an Academy Award in 1956 as well as many other prestigious awards for movies.
The movie started with Cal, the main character of the movie, found out that his supposedly long dead mother, Kate, did not die at all, but shot Cal's father Adam in the shoulder and left Cal and his twin brother Aaron long time ago. She now owned a prostitute house not too far away from the town of Salinas, where Cal and his family lived. When Cal went home, His father Adam showed it very clearly that he loved and was proud of Aaron dearly, but did not understand nor loved Cal. Cal was furious and destroyed the ice that his father was just about to buy. That night, after Adam unsuccessfully confronted Cal of his doings, Cal asked about his mother, and Adam admitted lying about his mother being dead.
Again Cal went to his mother's bar, this time sneaked into Kate's office unnoticed. Kate did not recognize him as her son and screamed for her bouncers to take him out. Cal learned from the sheriff about his parents' past and went home hoping to help his father with his lettuce business. Abra, Aaron's girlfriend, saw that Cal just felt like he was unloved and told some of her own stories in order to help Cal.
Soon, the lettuce business went down because Adam's idea of preservation did not work out. Now Adam lost most of his fortune but Cal was determined to get his money back from bean business----with the money he borrowed from Kate.
The Second World War came to America and Cal was making tons of profits from his beans. One night at the carnival, Abra stayed with Cal as she waited for Aaron, and confessed that she was now unsure of Aaron's feelings for her. The two of them kissed for a second but quickly drew apart. Cal spotted Aaron in a bad situation and sped over to help him in a fistfight. Aaron was outraged but Cal's violent actions despite the fact that he was helping him. Cal got drunk and Abra ran over to comfort him, but then Aaron interrupted with suspicious eyes. That night, Cal sneaked up Abra's house to tell her about his bean business and that he was going to give his father the surprise on his birthday.
On Adam's birthday, Cal and Abra decorated the house together and waited anxiously for Adam's return. Before Adam could open Cal's birthday gift, Aaron announced that he was engaged with Abra. All three of them were surprised but Adam was extremely proud of Aaron. Then he opened Cal's present, inside was all of the money he lost through the lettuce business but Cal earned back from beans. Adam was angry about the fact that Cal was taking money from hardworking people at this difficult time and would not take the present. Cal was extremely hurt and moaned as he hugged Adam, then ran outside of house. Abra again followed to comfort him, who was followed by Aaron. Cal asked Aaron to come with him somewhere...to see their mother.
Aaron was shocked. He could not take the truth and enrolled for the military in order to escape. Adam heard the news and rushed over before the train left. Aaron laughed horrifically and broke the train's glass window with his head. Adam collapsed with a stroke just as Cal got there.
Adam lied in his bed paralyzed as Abra tried to tell him how Cal needed his love and his request for his love, how he needed to show Cal a sign of acceptance. Under Abra's encouragement, Cal apologized to his father about all the things he had done and received an answer from Adam: "Get rid of the nurse. I can't stand her. You take care of me."
As one could tell pretty easily, this is a retell of the story of Cain and Abel from the Bible. Cain killed his brother Abel because of God's favor of him. There were quite a few references of this in the movie, such as Adam's devote to the Bible, Cal telling Kate that he and his brother received their names from the Bible, Cal saying "I'm not my brother's keeper" to Adam after he led Aaron to their mother, and the title, "East of Eden", which was where God send Cain after he murdered his own brother.
Just as the story of Cain and Abel, the main theme of the movie "East of Eden", which is also the theme of the novel, is the struggle between good and evil, and how one can choose to be good instead of evil. At first, it was clear that Aaron was everything good, following Adam, and Cal saw himself as everything bad, just like their mother, Kate. At the end of the movie, Cal finally gain the acceptance and love he needed from both his father and Abra in order to grow into the person he was suppose to be, and he turned "good."
Another theme of the movie was the support and love children needed from their parents as they mature into adulthood. Cal felt alone and abandoned in the world and that was why he went against most people around him and eventually caused Aaron's destruction. After all, he was only a big kid who needed his father's love. Abra was the only person that understood him and was willing to help him. There was tenderness in her care for him, which would eventually heal his scars.
Kate was another source of "bad" in the three men's lives. She left emotional scars deep in their hearts, and in Aaron's case, destroyed his dream, his future, and his life. Even though in her own mind, she justified her abandonment of her husband and children, she could never make up for the things she had done even if she wanted to.
At the end of the movie, as Cal and Abra kissed, as Cal pulled up a chair next to Adam's bed, there was a feeling of "everything is going to be okay." At that moment, I finally realized that, oddly, I was actually drawn into this 1955 movie. I felt what Cal and Abra felt, I rejoiced with them. Cal didn't have to go to "East of Eden" after all. Not like how Cain did.
Bibliography
·East of Eden. Dir. Elia Kazan. Videocassette. Warner Brothers, 1955.
