The film ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ is based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s successful novel of the same title about her amazing decision to leave everything, including her husband, home, and friends in New York, to travel the world in search of herself.

Liz, played delightfully by Julia Roberts, travels to Italy to eat, India to pray, and then Bali to love. In each place she finds friends, learns, and creates her own sense of family and love.

Being only a teenager, the mid-life crisis theme was foreign to me, although I still found the movie to have good lessons in it. For instance, Liz learned about the sweetness of doing nothing in Italy. And she was taught in India to forgive herself when feeling guilty about divorcing her husband, and to love and let go of him. In Bali she learned to balance herself and her life to be healthy from inside and out.

Also, throughout the journey she learned that she didn’t have to rely on others, particularly men, to feel fulfilled.

Liz didn’t really have any major or significant problems in the movie. The main reason she decides to take her trip is that she knows she deserves happiness and a joy for life, which she felt she no longer had. I think that this was a good message that happiness is important and worth taking the time to find.

Unfortunately the movie seemed to drag along quite slowly in parts. It took about a full 45 minutes before she even got on a plane. At times the movie didn’t really seem to be going much of anywhere. It definitely wasn’t a thrilling movie, but it made you think about what was truly important to you.

It was interesting seeing Eat, Pray, Love with my mother because, even though we both teared up during the film, it was never at the same time. It was also a great conversation starter on many things, such as the stages of life and personal values.

Overall the movie left me with a very positive and motivated feeling, and even though it was not action filled, it was humorous and very enjoyable to watch. I found myself referring to it the next day in my conversation and even caught myself smiling throughout the next day from the memory of it.

I recommend it to generally a slightly older audience, particularly females, but mainly anyone wanting a good, heartfelt film with beneficial and worthwhile messages.

Aran Kirschenmann, 14, is a contributing writer for the Bellevue Reporter and a freshman at The International School in Bellevue.