| I contracted some sort of mutant strain of Chicken Pox when I was 17. The blisters were much larger than normal, and the physical toll on my my body was much worse than normal.
I couldn't wear clothes because of the intense physical pain caused by contact between my
skin and anything more substantial than air. I hadn't slept because of the pain. I hadn't
eaten because, even when I got the food past the blisters in my mouth, my stomach was so
weakened that it couldn't hold in anything. After the first day, my stomach couldn't even
handle water. On the way to the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My face
was so deformed by blisters that I threw up.
After 48 hours of this, I was on the brink of insanity. At 5am I stumbled out of my room,
wearing just a pair of boxer shorts for modesty's sake. The living room was absolutely
freezing, it being mid-november and the fire being nothing more than a tiny pile of cinders.
Every second was like an hour and I was so damn thirsty. I was also really uncomfortable, because
I had to sit on a tiny corner of the chair to avoid more pain. I wasn't sure how much more of
it could take.
My brother had rented out a video that night. TV not being very good at 5am, I slipped it in.
I didn't even really want to watch it, but hell, it was company. It was something to play in
the background.
The trailers ended. I sort of half-noticed the start of the film, with the dull business
meeting. Then the fat bloke threw himself out the window. I half-smiled. "Y'know, for kids."
I laughed out loud.
By the time Tim Robbins was running around Paul Newman's office with his leg on fire, I had
become so utterly absorbed by this film that I had completely forgotten my physical condition.
By the time it had ended, I was wrapped in a duvet, gently sipping some water and grinning
from ear to ear. It was as if I had achieved Nirvana - I felt like I had gone beyond the realm
of physical sensation into a whole other, Coen brothers created world.
Now admittedly I wasn't in the best mental condition to form critiques of movies - shortly
after the film ended, I watched Sesame Street and woke up my family by loudly joining
in all the word games. But The Hudsucker Proxy does hold a special place in my heart, mainly
because I think it wouldn't still be beating if I hadn't seen it that night. | 
