Jay Dwivedi

As people in poor countries often joke that midlife crisis is something that happens to people with way too much money and spare time, this movie reinforces that theory.  Elizabeth M. Gilbert, who wrote the book that forms the basis for the movie, is nothing but a spoiled American woman who funded her adventures to find herself through a generous advance from a book publisher.  In other words, if you cannot find someone to pay for your sabbatical, do not even think about it.  Actually, the other day when a woman called the Suze Orman show asking her if she could afford $50,000 plus for a one year sabbatical to find her passion in life, Suze’s response was not only hilarious, but right on spot.  She basically told her to instead find an hour each day to reflect on her life and passions because chances are that she would come back one year later and complain that not only she could not find herself but also has spend most of her savings.

So the spoiled Gilbert (Julia Roberts) refuses to work on her marriage, divorces him on impulse, and then packs up and leaves for Italy, supposedly to pig out on Italian cuisine.  After abandoning skinny jeans and buying baggy clothes to hide her overweight body, she heads to India to find inner peace.  A lot of stereotyping about both Italy and India as if Italy is worth going only for its food and somehow one can find eternal peace in a chaotic country like India.  Finally, she head to Bali, in yet another quest to find what she could not find here at home: love.  It is there she meets a charming Brazilian Felipe (Javier Bardem) and concludes that she has reached her destination.

The movie is interesting in the sense that it forces all of us to think about our lives and how we should focus on finding happiness, but it is not the path I would recommend that you choose unless you can find a rich idiot to finance it.  Life is too complex to find answers in one year and it is much better to work on these existential issues each day rather than hoping for a miraculous discovery while overeating in Italy or meditating in India or making out on a beach in Bali.