Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close


I was interested to watch this movie because:
1) Academy Award Nominees
2) Best Movie of the year - People
3) Tom Hanks & Sandra Bullock are in this movie

It is based on a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer.

This movie is about a boy named Oskar, whose father died in the 9/11 tragedy. Oskar describes the day as "The Worst Day". Oskar is very close with his father. They used to do a lot of things together as father and son.

This movie is Oskar's story; his perception of "The Worst Day", memories about his dad, the struggle, grief, and motivation to find out what's left of his dad just so he can remember him longer.

On "The Worst Day", Oskar was released from school earlier, he went home but nobody was around. His father called and left messages in the answering machine since there's no one answered the phone. Oskar was too scared to pick up the phone, and felt guilty later on because he didn't pick up the phone. He kept the phone with all the messages so nobody will need to hear it like he did.
Learn to let go, to accept the tragedy, and to move on with your life are the messages of this movie.
This is a movie about family.
Oskar came from a good family background, good family support. His parents are loving, and he even gets closer to his granny after his dad passed away. During his journey, he was also involved with his grandpa, with whom he receives support and learns to accept other's limitation.

If you see it from different perspective, this movie is also showing how strong his mum is.
She needs to survive for Oskar, to support him, and to accept him despite how he reacts about the loss of his dad.

There was one conversation between Oskar and his mum which left a very deep impression in my heart:
Oskar: "I wish you were in that building instead of him."
She responds, "So do I."
Oskar: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."
She responds, "Yes, you did."
My heart was very sad to hear that particular conversation. Imagine that your own son prefers your spouse and wishes that you were the one who died and refuses to accept the reality. She has a very big heart to answer him calmly, and yet still love him with all her heart.

Great movie!


Ps:
*Highly recommended to watch.
*You may find more about the movie from Wikipedia, and the movie's website.
*Picture is borrowed from here.