Cocoon, written by Tom Benedek and David Saperstein, based on a story by the latter, 9 out of 10

Cocoon, written by Tom Benedek and David Saperstein, based on a story by the latter

9 out of 10

Notes and thoughts on other books are available at:

-              https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVa4_CsRStSBBDo4uJWT8BSWtTTn0N1E and   http://realini.blogspot.ro/

Cocoon is a brilliant film.

Fault finders would dismiss the idea of older people swimming in a pool with ocean stones and finding vigor.

-          But one has to be a Merit Finder and not a fault finder, because the former category lives longer, healthier lives

Besides, in real life, scientific research has resulted in extraordinary findings, in experiments conducted by Ellen Langer- “How many of aging's negative effects could be manipulated and even erased by a psychological intervention?

In a radical experiment in 1979 that was featured in a New York Times Magazine cover story last fall, Langer and her grad students decided to take this question as far as they possibly could.”

In just a few words, tests show that in different circumstances, people can “become younger” or vice versa.

For instance, when participants in studies were told words associated with old age- Florida, grey and others- the time they took to get to the exit was twice that taken by those in the same age group that had been primed with other words.

Granted, in the case of Cocoon, the premise is more outlandish.

Notwithstanding that, it is still worth looking at the merits and enjoying the fabulous narrative.

Aliens come to Earth to get the “cocoons” mentioned in the title.

They are led by Walter aka Brian Dennehy.

The aliens hire the boat of Jack Bonner played by Steve Guttenberg.

And they get their precious stones from the bottom of the ocean and deposit them in the pool were a group of senior citizens swim.

Given the magical properties of the cocoons, the men are

-          Transformed and Rejuvenated

Don Ameche is Art Selwyn, Wilford Brimley plays Ben Luckett and Hume Cronyn has the task of giving life to Joe Finley.

And it is a pleasure to watch them become Young Again.

This is a comedy and therefore it is easier to go along with the idea of magic stones that perform miracles.

And as positive psychology demonstrates, it is a matter of mindset and priming- even words have a strong effect:

-          Worlds Create Worlds- in the words of Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar

In other words, a possible message from this marvelous movie would be to enjoy life with zest, Savoring the Moment:

-          Carpe Diem

As tested in the aforementioned research, young people, when placed in certain circumstances act old.

There is no reason to deny that the reverse is true and we also have the example of whole populations.

In Okinawa, Japan, the number of centenarians represents a record, explained in part by the diet and also attitude.

-          “In Okinawa, centenarian ratios may be the world's highest at approximately 50 per 100,000 population”

They have a term called “ikigai” which as I far as I understand it stands for meaning, reason to get out of bed in the morning.

The notion of “retiring” does not exist there and given the results we could accept the proposition of Cocoon.

-          Changing the recipe for long, healthy life from bathing with the Cocoon to eating like the Okinawans and being active, as they are.