Pity and disbelief are two emotions that erupt within the person who watches the movie, “50 First Dates” for the first time. It is the condition of Drew Barrymore that makes people go awe in disbelief and the compassion shown by Adam Sandler towards his girlfriend. The condition of Michelle Phipots is similar to that of Drew Barrymore’s. She needs to be convinced every morning by her husband that she is married to him by showing her pictures of their wedding.
The forty seven (47) year old lady suffers from what is called anterograde amnesia. This brain defect was caused in Michelle after suffering from two road accidents, one a motorbike crash in 1985 and five (5) years later, a car accident in 1990. The poor woman can recall everything that happened up till 1994 however, her memory has no instance of anything that happened beyond that.
The first question that arises in a reader’s mind after knowing the condition of short term memory loss in this lady is how she copes with her life. She retaliates by saying that she uses a huge number of post-its notes to remind herself of daily tasks. She also uses reminders on her mobile phone. Though it is difficult but a list of all the people she meets has to be entailed in a written form.
The woman works for a charity that is meant to serve people with disabilities. For her, each joke is jocular as she cannot recall whether she has heard it before; each episode of EastEnders is a new one as she cannot remember the story line. Kudos to her husband Ian who says that it is his patience that gives him the strength and it is the love he has for her that keeps him going. He says he is thankful that he met her before 1994 so she can remember him vividly.
