Inside The Living Body

Yesterday, I watched "Inside the Living Body" a documentary on human body from birth to death. I first heard about it from my cousin brother who had listed it in his Watched Movies List. I was amazed that he had given it 5 stars; as he won’t give 5 stars to even really good movies. According to his rating system, 5 stars are for out of this world eye openers which come one in a blue moon. So, that day only I decided to watch it. I copied it from my brother and stored in my movies folder. But due to one reason or another, I was not getting the time to watch it. Now, around 3 years later I downloaded it from internet and finally watched it. The documentary is of 1 hour 30 minutes and explains the human body during different phases of life starting from birth, to being a toddler to puberty, adulthood and aged. The film shows live footage from the new imaging techniques which allow us to see the body from the inside. We are able to see how food is being transferred from mouth to digestive system and how it is digested. The movie shows many processes of the body in a simple way.

After watching the movie, I realised that how delicate is our body and the whole process of life is based on the intricate balances of chemicals. I wonder how the body is able to do all of these functions. It is nature at its best. Sometimes, I think how can there be so much detail, creativity in the body. It feels like the work of god, because creating such a complex thing and still keeping it simple is still centuries away from the reach of humans. It seems like everything in the body is created after giving a serious thought. Another surprising fact is that the despite being delicate in one sense, the body is so strong. The heart and other vital organs work non-stop for 80-90 years. This is nature at its best.

Another thought which springs to my mind is the undeniable fact of death. The movie explains that as per a theory, the body starts to age from the moment we are born, but in the beginning we have excellent repair mechanism which repairs damaged cells and new cells replace the old ones continuously. But with the age, our repair mechanism weakens and the damaged areas are not healed as fast as they should be. Another theory of aging is that while oxygen is required for us to survive, it also leads to our destruction. Oxygen produces antioxidants which damage our cells. So, the only thing which keeps us alive, also corrodes us from inside. If I have to conclude my feelings, I will say that it is je ne sais qua, its indescribable as I don’t know the words or the way to describe what I am feeling for the ingenuity of nature and our creator.