the bucket list movie essay

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By Roger Ebert

"The Bucket List" is a movie about two old codgers who are nothing like people, both suffering from cancer that is nothing like cancer, and setting off on adventures that are nothing like possible. I urgently advise hospitals: Do not make the DVD available to your patients; there may be an outbreak of bedpans thrown at TV screens.

The film opens with yet another voiceover narration by Morgan Freeman , extolling the saintly virtues of a white person who deserves our reverence. His voice takes on a sort of wonderment, as he speaks of the man's greatness; it was a note that worked in " The Shawshank Redemption " and " Million Dollar Baby ," but not here, not when he is talking of a character, played by Jack Nicholson , for whom lovability is not a strong suit.

Nicholson is Edward, an enormously rich man of about 70, who has been diagnosed with cancer, given a year to live, and is sharing a room with Carter (Freeman), about the same age, same prognosis. Why does a billionaire not have a private room? Why, because Edward owns the hospital, and he has a policy that all patients must double up, so it would look bad if he didn't.

This is only one among countless details the movie gets wrong.

Doesn't Edward know that hospitals make lotsa profits by offering private rooms, "concierge service," etc.? The fact is, Edward and Carter must be roommates to set up their Meet Cute, during which they first rub each other the wrong way and then have an orgy of male bonding. Turns out Carter has a "bucket list" of things he should do before he kicks the bucket. Edward embraces this idea, announces, "Hell, all I have is money," and treats Carter to an around-the-world trip in his private airplane, during which they will, let's see if I have the itinerary right here, visit the Pyramids, the Taj Mahal , Hong Kong, the French Riviera and the Himalayas.

Carter is faithfully married to his loving wife Virginia ( Beverly Todd ), who is remarkably restrained about seeing her dying husband off on this madcap folly. She doesn't take it well, but I know wives who would call for the boys with butterfly nets. Edward, after four divorces, has no restraints, plenty of regrets, and uses his generosity to mask egotism, selfishness and the imposition of his goofy whim on poor Carter. That his behavior is seen as somehow redemptive is perhaps the movie's weirdest fantasy. Meanwhile, the codgers have pseudo-profound conversations about the Meaning of It All, and Carter's superior humanity begins to soak in for the irascible Edward.

The movie, directed by Rob Reiner , was written by Justin Zackham , who must be very optimistic indeed if he doesn't know that there is nothing like a serious illness to bring you to the end of sitcom cliches. I've never had chemo, as Edward and Carter must endure, but I have had cancer, and believe me, during convalescence after surgery the last item on your bucket list is climbing a Himalaya. Your list is more likely to be topped by keeping down a full meal, having a triumphant bowel movement, keeping your energy up in the afternoon, letting your loved ones know you love them, and convincing the doc your reports of pain are real and not merely disguising your desire to become a drug addict. To be sure, the movie includes plenty of details about discomfort in the toilet, but they're put on hold once the trots are replaced by the globe-trotting.

Edward and Carter fly off on their odyssey, during which the only realistic detail is the interior of Edward's private jet. Other locations are created, all too obviously, by special effects; the boys in front of the Pyramids look about as convincing as Abbott and Costello wearing pith helmets in front of a painted backdrop.

Meanwhile, we wait patiently for Edward to realize his inner humanity, reach out to his estranged daughter and learn all the other life lessons Carter has to bestow. All Carter gets out of it is months away from his beloved family and the opportunity to be a moral cheering section for Edward's conversion.

I'm thinking, just once, couldn't a movie open with the voiceover telling us what a great guy the Morgan Freeman character is? Nicholson could say, "I was a rich, unpleasant, selfish jerk, and this wise, nice man taught me to feel hope and love." Yeah, that would be nice. Because what's so great about Edward, anyway? He throws his money around like a pig and makes Carter come along for the ride. So what?

There are movies that find humor, albeit perhaps of a bitter, sardonic nature, in cancer. Some of them show incredible bravery, as in Mike Nichols' "Wit," with its great performance by Emma Thompson .

"The Bucket List" thinks dying of cancer is a laff riot followed by a dime-store epiphany. The sole redeeming merit of the film is the steady work by Morgan Freeman, who has appeared in more than one embarrassing movie, but never embarrassed himself. Maybe it's not Jack Nicholson's fault that his role cries out to be overplayed, but it's his fate, and ours.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film Credits

The Bucket List (2008)

Rated PG-13 for language, including a sex reference

Alfonso Freeman as Roger

Morgan Freeman as Carter

Sean Hayes as Thomas

Rob Morrow as Dr. Hollins

Beverly Todd as Virginia

Rowena King as Angelica

Jack Nicholson as Edward

• Justin Zackham

Directed by

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Home > The Bucket List Ending Explained

• The Bucket List Ending Explained
• UPDATED: February 12, 2024

Table of Contents

The Bucket List, a film that resonates with themes of friendship, adventure, and the essence of life, culminates in a narrative that is both uplifting and reflective. Directed by Rob Reiner and starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, the movie explores the lives of two terminally ill men, Carter Chambers (Freeman) and Edward Cole (Nicholson), who embark on a journey to fulfill their deepest desires before time runs out. This article delves into the poignant ending of The Bucket List, unraveling the layers of its conclusion and the messages it conveys.

The Unlikely Bond

The story begins in a hospital where Carter and Edward, two men from vastly different walks of life, are forced to share a room due to their terminal lung cancer diagnoses. Despite initial reluctance, a profound friendship develops between the pair as they decide to leave the hospital and live their remaining days to the fullest. The bucket list, a compilation of things they wish to do before they kick the bucket, becomes the blueprint for their adventures.

Adventures and Revelations

Their journey is a montage of exhilarating experiences, from skydiving to globe-trotting, each adventure bringing them closer and allowing them to discover joy in life’s simple pleasures. Notably, their travels are not just about ticking off items on a list; they are moments of introspection and bonding. The duo shares personal regrets and dreams, revealing vulnerabilities that deepen their connection. Edward’s struggle with family estrangement and Carter’s unfulfilled aspirations underscore the film’s exploration of redemption and fulfillment.

The Final Act

As their journey progresses, the narrative takes a bittersweet turn. Carter, after a seizure, is hospitalized, revealing the cancer’s spread to his brain. In these final moments, the film emphasizes the strength of their friendship. Edward, now in remission, is by Carter’s side, sharing laughter and comfort. Carter’s passing is a poignant reminder of the film’s inevitable conclusion, yet it is handled with grace, focusing on the fulfillment of their shared experiences rather than the sorrow of loss.

Legacy and Closure

Edward’s attempt to reconcile with his estranged daughter, inspired by his journey with Carter, brings the theme of reconciliation to the forefront. The film closes with Edward delivering a eulogy at Carter’s funeral, a testament to the profound impact of their friendship. The epilogue reveals Edward’s eventual death and the fulfillment of the final item on their bucket list: to witness something truly majestic. The scattering of their ashes in the Himalayas symbolizes their everlasting bond and the completion of their journey together.

Reflections on Life and Friendship

The Bucket List ends on a note of introspection, encouraging viewers to ponder the significance of life, the value of friendship, and the importance of pursuing one’s dreams. The film suggests that it’s never too late to find joy and meaning, regardless of the circumstances. Through their adventures and the resolution of their personal conflicts, Carter and Edward exemplify how embracing life’s journey, with all its ups and downs, can lead to a fulfilling and enriching experience.

The Bucket List is more than a story about two men facing the end of their lives; it is a celebration of life itself. The ending, rich in emotion and wisdom, leaves a lasting impression about the importance of connection, the pursuit of dreams, and the beauty of sharing life’s journey with someone who understands the depth of your soul.

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Interpreting | The Bucket List (2007)

“The Bucket List” follows two terminally ill men, portrayed by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, who embark on a journey to fulfill their bucket list before they die. Despite technical flaws like evident green screen usage, the film’s heartwarming message about friendship, love, and living life to the fullest shines through.

Looking back to 2007, I was just starting my journey into the world of critiquing film. As much as I would love to say that I was good at it, it was always a learning curve. My first selection of reviews helped literally nobody understand if the movie was good or bad, as without really noticing it, I would simply say that it was good or bad, and I would make no real effort to expand on why. I’ve come a long way, but one of the films that actually prompted me to look deeper into the importance of all the different stages of production was ‘The Bucket List’, a film that I remember loving and slightly getting emotional while watching, yet it was undoubtedly issue-ridden.

‘The Bucket List’ stars Morgan Freeman as Carter, opposite of Jack Nicholson’s Edward – two elderly patients waiting for death to come knocking on their door, as they are both facing irreversible terminal cancer. They have, at most, a year to live, but it’s more than likely mere months. So, together, they decide instead of being grim and waiting for death, to create a bucket list and check off every item before they ‘kick the bucket’, so to speak.

“The strengths of the film primarily lie in its execution of certain themes and messages .”

One of the main reasons I chose to revisit this film, and one of the reasons its on my mind recently, is because it’s actually part of the incredibly long (and growing) list of mysterious Mandela Effects. Which one? Oh, just the one that suggests the term “bucket list” never even existed until this film came out. This movie coined it. *Mind blown*. Now, I know this was a smaller film and not everybody saw it, yet everyone knows what a bucket list is. You’re telling me before the movie, nobody called it that? Bullhonky, I say.

Moving on, I guess I should lay out why this film in particular motivated me to look deeper into the role that each aspect of production plays. That’s because this film dances to the beat of its own drum a little bit. It does things that are honestly laughable if they were in any other film, yet endearing in this. Things such as the visuals. This is a relatively small film with a very big idea at the end of the day – and those kinds of things clash. You don’t even need me to break down which parts need help, as they’re all pretty obvious, but I’ll do it anyway – green screen and super-imposing are both significant issues and clearly fake. Most would point to the super-imposing problems during the skydiving scene that look fake. This is probably because they couldn’t even recreate it practically in front of a green screen because…well, our two leads are older and can’t do a lot of physical activity, which limited them getting their faces plastered on actual sky divers. Yes, that was the Scorpion King moment of the film in terms of visuals, but pretty much any time they are in another country, something about it feels like green screen city. They actually filmed in these locations, though, which leads me to believe, once again, the actual actors are superimposed into various elements of footage.

Yet, as I said before, none of that seems to matter all that much when you’re in the midst of watching the flick. Instead, I would argue it is the spirit of the film that forgives any lack of quality in the technical department. Morgan and Jack have a lot of chemistry together, which builds throughout the film, there’s a message in there about living life to the fullest, facing your fears, owning up to your past mistakes, having fun, and most importantly, how friendship and love alone can heal long-forgotten wounds and in a matter of speaking, save someone’s life.

The film is undoubtedly sappy, but sometimes sappy is exactly what you need, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s not the most cinematic film in the world, and sometimes the acting is incredible while other times it leaves me a little unimpressed, but at the end of the day, you can tell our two leads were having a blast making the film, which is good to know, given it was Nicholson’s second-to-last film he ever made, and has since disappeared for the last 14 years.

Overall, I’ll leave it at this – I can say without a doubt in my mind that my first impressions of the film were better than my most recent. After 17 years of critiquing different elements of a film objectively, I can understand where this film falters when initially, I guess I either couldn’t or it didn’t matter. It’s unfortunate, because just a little bit of a higher budget could have easily and quickly fixed those issues. If it were made today, I don’t even think there would be those same issues. The strengths of the film primarily lie in its execution of certain themes and messages.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Bucket List

Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.

• Justin Zackham
• Jack Nicholson
• Morgan Freeman
• 406 User reviews
• 183 Critic reviews
• 42 Metascore
• 3 wins & 4 nominations

• Dr. Hollins

• (as Jennifer DeFrancisco)

• Female Administrator

• (as Noel Guglielmi)

• County Health Director
• (as Hugh Holub)
• (as Andrea J. Johnson)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Jack Nicholson 's own experience in the hospital, just prior to filming, inspired some of the dialogue and acting for the movie. For example, the mirrored glasses seen in the movie were not originally in the script, but Nicholson, who obtained them while in the hospital, brought them to the set. Director Rob Reiner decided to include them in the film.
• Goofs There is no way to have a conversation while skydiving. Not even shouted words can be understood. (This was proved by MythBusters (2003) .)

Edward Cole : Three things to remember when you get older: never pass up a bathroom, never waste a hard-on, and never trust a fart.

Thomas : I'll keep that in mind as I approach decrepitude.

• Crazy credits There are no opening credits.
• Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Bucket List/The Orphanage/The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep/There Will Be Blood/Honeydripper/Persepolis (2008)
• Soundtracks I've Got A Feelin' You're Fooling Written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown

User reviews 406

• claudio_carvalho
• Jun 14, 2008
• How long is The Bucket List? Powered by Alexa
• Is that stuff about the coffee for real?
• What is the name of the coffee flavor?
• January 11, 2008 (United States)
• United States
• Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India (second unit)
• Warner Bros.
• Zadan / Meron Productions
• Two Ton Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $45,000,000 (estimated)
• $93,466,502
• Dec 30, 2007
• $175,372,502

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 37 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Hospice Care. “The Bucket List” Movie Report (Assessment)

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

This paper deals with health services provided by the hospitals and nursing and care centers, to the patients who are suffering from diseases which are not usually curable. The paper raises some points that the hospital CEO’s can do to make such incurable diseases less painful, as well as help the patients in living the rest of their numbered days of life in peace and as much happiness as possible. The paper takes into account a movie named “The bucket List”, which deals with such an incurable disease. It shows how the protagonists try to live as happily as possible and do all that they ad ever wanted to do in their lives.

The movie “The Bucket List” shows two men, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, from different walks of life, who suffer from cancer and are brought for tests and are admitted in the same hospital. They become friends while living there. Both have little time left, as told to them by the hospital authorities. So, they make a list of all the things they had always wanted to do in their lives, and had never got an opportunity to do so. They call that list, a bucket list. To make their last days of life more meaningful and probably less painful than expected, both the men set out to carry out their to-do tasks. At some point of time, their lives intersect at a point and they tend to help each other achieve the other’s desire or wish. Their lists include some of the following tasks:

• Witness something truly majestic
• Help a complete stranger for a common good
• Laugh till I cry
• Drive a Shelby Mustang
• Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world
• Get a tattoo
• See the pyramids
• Get back in touch

Now, to get all these desires fulfilled and all the wishes come true, there has to be a source, which must get this done. It may be the patient’s family, or the hospital itself, or even the government. Whatever the source may be, the aim is to make the patient’s life as smooth and happy as possible. As asked in the paper, what is the role of the CEO’s of the hospital? The CEO’s of the hospital must take a step to alleviate the pain of the patients who are in such a condition.

They must advice them to pray regularly. Besides that, the patients must be given full opportunity to do what they always wanted to do in their lives, so that, they don’t have any regrets. Their families must also be completely supportive in making the patients realize their dreams and fancies. The most important thing is that they should not be continuously reminded of their disease. Besides, as long as they are living in the hospital, the staff must make it sure that such patients are provided with, as much as possible, all the things they desire. For example, they can be provided with video games, movies, their favorite books from a library, magazines, and the like.

The question now arises as to who should pay for all the above expenditures? One answer can be the patient’s family. In case where the family is not well off, then the government must step forward to help such patients, since, they were once citizens of its country. It is the government’s duty to make their lives beautiful, when they just have a few days or months to live.

The most important thing is to provide them with care and support. They need everybody’s love and guidance. They must be given proper treatment. Their lives should be made as smooth as possible. Death bites. But dying while healthy, rich and free enough to drink life to the last drop is getting great press, thanks to a new movie (Cathy Lynn Grossman and Laura Bly, USA Today).

Cathy Lynn Grossman, Laura Bly. (2008). Making a ‘bucket list’ before you kick . Web.

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The Bucket List - Movie Analysis

Essay by people   •  April 27, 2011  •  Book/Movie Report  •  1,465 Words (6 Pages)  •  7,591 Views

Essay Preview: The Bucket List - Movie Analysis

Bucket List

The Bucket List was an amazing movie; it was a movie that showed two older men on a journey to find the meaning of life. Mr. Edward Cole a corporate billionaire and a scholarly mechanic Carter Chambers met in the hospital because they both had Cancer. The time that they spent together in the hospital did not only bring them great friendship but also together they found the joy and meaning of life. While sitting in the hospital together slowly dying from cancer they decided that they were not ready to die and they still had a lot of things they wanted to do for themselves before it was too late. So, they made a bucket list, and decided to escape the hospital and do everything that they always wanted to do.

Carter Chambers was married to his dear wife, Virginia, for 45 years he had a happy marriage and a wonderful family but, Mr. Chambers felt as if something was missing. He explained that for the last forty five years of his life were mostly dedicated to his family and wife, now he wants to have time for himself and do the things he always wanted to do, but didn't get a chance to do. Even though his friend Edward Cole was a billionaire; he also felt as if there was something missing out of his life, he had a lot of money and many divorces, and a daughter that he has not spoken with, that didn't make him feel like he had the true meaning to life.

As a person approaches late adulthood, health problems are not just the issue, but problems regarding one's meaning of life. Both of these men felt unsatisfied or incomplete, with their overall feeling, they were both suffering from a terminal disease, and they both felt if they were going to die they wanted die knowing they got the best out of life, with no regrets, and lived life to the fullest.

Both Edward and Carter where demonstrating Erikson's Last stage of development. His last stage is integrity vs. despair hoping that one will gain strength of wisdom so that person will not be afraid of death. Erikson believes that much of life was preparing for the middle adult stage and the last stage is to recovering from it. When a person is older and is able to reevaluate their life with happiness, and feels fulfilled with a deep sense of life and meaning is when that person is experiencing integrity. If a person is experiencing that they failed at life, and have no meaning to life this is when the person is displaying despair. They fear death because they have not got all out of life what they wanted to.

In the Movie The Bucket List Edward and Carter experienced in Erikson's last stage of development: integrity versus despair. Carter demonstrates integrity throughout the entire movie while Edward shows signs of despair through most of the movie. Carter integrity shows when he tells Edward about his children and wife. He was proud of his children for what they accomplished. At the end of the movie, Carter was content with his life, especially after Edward helped him realize that his wife was the most important person in the world to him. He also accepted death at the end of the movie, knowing that he probably would not have made it through his brain surgery. On the other hand, Edward shows despair when he and Carter discuss the issues he had with his daughter. Although he told Carter that if he could go back and relive his life he would do it all the same, he also told Carter that he was not proud of the way he handled some issues with his daughter. Edward also had many wives, but only one child and his daughter never wanted to talk to him, and there are moments in the movie where I saw that Edward was upset about his relationship with his daughter.

Both Edward and Carter could also be categorized under Piaget's formal operational stage of development. In this stage, people can think logically about abstract propositions and may become concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems. Both characters verbalize their ideologies and hypothesis about death and the afterlife. Throughout

Copy of Auburn Junior High School Writing Guide: Bucket List Essay

• Definition Essay
• Narrative Essay
• Compare/Contrast Essay
• Argumentative Research Essay
• Informative Essay
• Analysis Essay
• Writer's Workshops
• Bucket List Essay

Based on your viewing of the movie  The Bucket List  and your reading of Tim McGraw's song, "Live Like You Were Dying,", write a  5 paragraph  essay that explains three goals you hope to reach in your life time. Your essay must include:

An introduction paragraph

3 body paragraphs (USE TDEC)

A concluding paragraph

3 photos that support your writing

~Click on the link below for further directions!

• Bucket List Essay Directions

Essential Question

What is a bucket list and what purpose does it serve in a person's life?

What are 3 the types of goals you hope to accomplish during your lifetime?

Guiding Questions

What are some strategies you can use to ensure you are reaching your life goals?

What are the effects on a person when life goals are accomplished?

What are the components of an effective essay?

Planning, Notes, Outline

• Introduction Notes
• Conclusion Notes
• Transition Word List
• More Transitions

Reading and Resources

• "Live Like you Were Dying" Lyrics
• Article: 101 Things to Do Before You Die

Bucket List Essay Samples

• Bucket List Essay Sample
• Bucket List Essay Rubric

NYS Health and Common Core Learning Standards

NYS Health Standard 1: Personal Health and Fitness Students will have the necessary knowledge and skills to establish and maintain physical fitness, participate in physical activity, and maintain personal health. 

(ELA) CCLS 8W2:

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, an analysis of relevant content.

8W2a: Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information using strategies such as DEFINITION, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect

8W2b: Develop a topic with relevant facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples; include formatting, graphics, and multimedia when useful to aid comprehension.

8W2c: Use precise language adn domain-specific vocabulary to explain a topic.

8W2d: Use appropriate and varied TRANSITIONS to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts.

8W2e: Provide a CONCLUDING statement or section that explains the significance of the information presented.

8W2f: Establish and maintain a style appropriate to the writing task.

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• Last Updated: Oct 4, 2022 12:00 PM
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My Bucket List: a Narrative of My Goals

• Categories: Bucket List Life Goals

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Words: 913 |

Updated: 5 December, 2023

Words: 913 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

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Kicking the Bucket List

Given the daunting agenda of international crises—in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq—with which world leaders contended at the NATO summit in Newport, Wales, last week, it is forgivable that President Obama chose to indulge in a little cultural tourism before departing from the U.K. At the summit’s close, the President had his helicopter stop by Boscombe Down Air Force Base in Wiltshire, so that he and his motorcade could make the twenty-minute drive to Stonehenge. He strode jacketless around the monument’s weathered, lichen-covered stones, and listened earnestly to the site’s English Heritage curator. “Knocked it off the bucket list right now,” he told watching reporters before returning to his car and to Washington, an hour behind his official schedule.

The concept of the bucket list—places one wants to visit, experiences one wants to undergo, and accomplishments one wants to master before dying—has gained widespread cultural currency, and that the President should talk of having one should not be surprising. (One does wonder at the downgrading of his aspirations, from “Become President” and “Eradicate Al Qaeda” to “Have dinner with Renzo Piano” and “Tour the Colosseum.”) Exactly who coined the phrase is obscure, but the term entered the popular consciousness decisively in 2007, with the release of the movie “The Bucket List.” Starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as geriatric terminal-cancer patients who undertake an implausible valedictory tour of excess—skydiving, visiting the Taj Mahal, and getting to the foothills of Everest—the film grossed more than a hundred and seventy-five million dollars, despite scathing reviews. The idea rapidly spread to a younger generation: in 2010, MTV’s “The Buried Life” featured three fresh-faced Canadian guys travelling across America and checking items off their list, among them “Streak a stadium and get away with it,” “Throw the most badass party ever,” and “Spend a night in jail.”

The expression derives from “kicking the bucket,” a euphemism for dying of obscure origin but blunt and vivid suggestiveness. (Etymologists suggest that the bucket being kicked is not, as we might imagine, a pail, but a corruption of the Old French word  buquet , meaning a balance or beam, from which slaughtered animals were suspended.) Compiling a bucket list is both an exercise in wishful self-improvement—learning to speak French, training to run a marathon—and an expression of to-hell-with-it cupidity. It can express the longing to shed inhibition, as if living life to its fullest meant dispensing with socially constraining rules. The felicitous rhyme with “fuck it,” the plosive “b” substituting for the fricative “f,” surely goes part of the way to explaining the term’s appeal.

A small library could be filled with the books that have been written for those who feel their imaginations inadequate to the task of summoning a roster of ambitions or desires. Such books seem designed to spur new desires and ambitions, since no one person’s private longings could possibly be large enough to encompass their range. (The very drawing up of a bucket list might provide its own small satisfaction: at least that’s done.) Patricia Schultz’s “1000 Places to See Before You Die”—Cliveden, the Grand Canyon—has spawned an entire catalogue of spinoffs for its publisher, Workman, including the forthcoming “1000 Foods to Eat Before You Die,” by Mimi Sheraton. (Some of these, such as frozen Milky Way bars, seem likely to hustle you along a little more quickly.) Goodreads offers a “Books to Read Before You Die” list, which includes not just “Middlemarch” and “Pride and Prejudice” but also Mitch Albom’s potentially useful primer, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.”

There are countless interactive tools for filling one’s bucket or examining the contents of someone else’s. The iWish app allows you to input your life goals—suggestions range from “Dive the Galapagos Islands” to “Raise a Happy & Healthy Child”—and have them always only a finger-swipe away. Bucketlist.org calls itself “a web-based personal intentions system”; its users can list their goals, post updates about their accomplishments, and evaluate the goals of other people. This last is voyeuristically fascinating and oddly poignant: the two-hundred-and-ninety-five-goal list of one young woman in Hyderabad, which includes “Hand out lemons wearing a shirt that says life,” “Look like a boy,” “Do something I’m not supposed to,” “Be surprised,” and “Be unbelievably surprised,” is a young-adult novel in note form.

Whence the appeal of the bucket list? To stop and think about the things one hopes to do, the person one hopes to be, is a useful and worthwhile exercise; to do so with a consciousness of one’s own unpredictable mortality can be a sobering reckoning, as theologians and philosophers recognized long before Workman Publishing got in on the act. That life is nothing more than a preparation for death is a commonplace in religious systems of all stripes. In premodern times, when death was a far more proximate inevitability than it can seem to be today, cherishing the prospect of celestial transcendence might well provide relief from quotidian suffering—even more so than harboring the hope of learning to skydive buoys the bored individual of today. But the consolations of the contemporary bucket list, too, can be far from trivial, even if some of the items to be found therein might seem so. Millions have watched a short video of Robin Williams sending greetings to a twenty-one-year-old New Zealand woman with terminal cancer, whose bucket list reportedly included not just the wish to meet the actor but the aspiration of living long enough to see her infant daughter’s first birthday.

As popularly conceived, however, the bucket list is far from being a reckoning with the weight of love in extremis, or an ethical or moral accounting. More often, it partakes of a commodification of cultural experience, in which every expedition made, and every artwork encountered, is reduced to an item on a checklist to be got through, rather than being worthy of repeated or extended engagement. Dropping by Stonehenge for ten minutes and then announcing you’ve crossed it off your bucket list suggests that seeing Stonehenge—or beholding the Taj Mahal, or visiting the Louvre, or observing a pride of lions slumbering under a tree in the Maasai Mara—is something that, having been done, can be considered done with.

This is the YOLO -ization of cultural experience, whereby the pursuit of fleeting novelty is granted greater value than a patient dedication to an enduring attention—an attention which might ultimately enlarge the self, and not just pad one’s experiential résumé. The notion of the bucket list legitimizes this diminished conception of the value of repeated exposure to art and culture. Rather, it privileges a restless consumption, a hungry appetite for the new. I’ve  seen  Stonehenge. Next?

What if, instead, we compiled a different kind of list, not of goals to be crossed out but of touchstones to be sought out over and over, with our understanding deepening as we draw nearer to death? These places, experiences, or cultural objects might be those we can only revisit in remembrance—we may never get back to the Louvre—but that doesn’t mean we’re done with them. The greatest artistic and cultural works, like an unaccountable sun rising between ancient stones, are indelible, with the power to induce enduring wonder if we stand still long enough to see.

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Photo Appears to Capture Path of Bullet Used in Assassination Attempt

Michael Harrigan, a retired F.B.I. special agent, said the image captured by Doug Mills, a New York Times photographer, seems to show a bullet streaking past former President Donald J. Trump.

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By John Ismay

Reporting from Washington

• July 14, 2024

Follow the latest news on the Trump assassination attempt.

In documenting the Pennsylvania campaign rally on Saturday afternoon that turned into an attempt on a former president’s life, Doug Mills, a veteran New York Times photographer, appeared to capture the image of a bullet streaking past former President Donald J. Trump’s head.

That is the assessment of Michael Harrigan, a retired F.B.I. special agent who spent 22 years in the bureau.

“It absolutely could be showing the displacement of air due to a projectile,” Mr. Harrigan said in an interview on Saturday night after reviewing the high-resolution images that Mr. Mills filed from the rally. “The angle seems a bit low to have passed through his ear, but not impossible if the gunman fired multiple rounds.”

Simple ballistic math showed that capturing a bullet as Mr. Mills likely did in a photo was possible, Mr. Harrigan said.

Mr. Mills was using a Sony digital camera capable of capturing images at up to 30 frames per second. He took these photos with a shutter speed of 1/8,000th of a second — extremely fast by industry standards.

The other factor is the speed of the bullet from the firearm. On Saturday law enforcement authorities recovered an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle at the scene from a deceased white man they believe was the gunman.

“If the gunman was firing an AR-15-style rifle, the .223-caliber or 5.56-millimeter bullets they use travel at roughly 3,200 feet per second when they leave the weapon’s muzzle,’’ Mr. Harrigan said. “And with a 1/8,000th of a second shutter speed, this would allow the bullet to travel approximately four-tenths of a foot while the shutter is open.”

“Most cameras used to capture images of bullets in flight are using extremely high speed specialty cameras not normally utilized for regular photography, so catching a bullet on a side trajectory as seen in that photo would be a one in a million shot and nearly impossible to catch even if one knew the bullet was coming,” he said.

In Mr. Harrigan’s last assignment, he led the bureau’s firearms training unit and currently works as a consultant in the firearms industry.

“Given the circumstances, if that’s not showing the bullet’s path through the air, I don’t know what else it would be,” he said.

John Ismay is a reporter covering the Pentagon for The Times. He served as an explosive ordnance disposal officer in the U.S. Navy. More about John Ismay