Tempus

There's a famous story out of American history involving Andrew Jackson on his deathbed and his friend and sometimes protégé Sam Houston. When Houston heard that Jackson was dying and raced from Texas with his young son to see his old friend before he died. No doubt Houston wished as Jonathan Kite did that his own age and infirmities could disappear, he wanted so much to see his mentor into eternity. He got there to the Hermitage, Jackson's estate too late by a couple of hours. Jackson's body was on his deathbed still as Houston and his little boy arrived. Houston told his son, "My son do not forget you are looking on the face of Andrew Jackson" with all due reverence.

We never do know if the elderly Kite summons off enough energy from his youthful past to make it to where his wife Ann Benson lays dying. I remember some 20 years ago I couldn't make it down a flight of stairs to see my own mother take a last breath. Death is such a fleeting thing and no one if they can wants to do it alone.

We're not sure if Kite makes it. As the film ends, a symbolic dove flies through the window meaning in my mind her soul moving on. It's a popular cultural symbol and effective.

Tempus runs just a hair short of four minutes. But it says all it wants to say about how fragile and transient life itself really is. Good show for everyone involved with this film.