Spiritual Lessons From the 2009 Oscar Nominees

'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button': Live Life With Purpose

 13 nominations, including Best Picture

Benjamin, we are told by his surrogate mother, is "a miracle ... just not the kind you wish to see." He lives his life backwards, growing younger every year. It's a curious case indeed—one that explores birth, death, and the precious points in between. While it mulls fate and ponders the nature of the soul (hummingbirds, anyone?), Button's main purpose is to exhort us to live with purpose—plowing through pain and loss along the way. Life, like Benjamin, isn't always pretty. But it's pretty miraculous all the same.