Watched "A Man Called Otto" over the weekend. I remembered that the advertised trailer had looked interesting, so thought it would be an entertaining movie to watch.
First, I have been a Tom Hanks fan for quite a while. I am old enough to remember him in his early days, the sitcom Bosom Buddies, movies like Bachelor Party, Splash and Money Pit when he was mostly a comedic actor, then as he took on more serious roles such as in Philadelphia, Forest Gump and Apollo 13, followed by his signature roles in Cast Away and the Da Vinci code series, not to mention all the voice characters he was doing during those years. Even in films that were not blockbusters, such as Larry Crowne and Cloud Atlas (which I especially enjoyed), Hanks has demonstrated not only a tremendous range of skills, but an incredible maturation of his ability to "act". When you add his performances in "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" and "News of the World", well, Hanks will certainly be considered one of the more accomplished actors of his generation. And it all started with him dressing in drag to find a cheap place to live!
So, I was expecting a high quality story, with some type of life lesson, and I was not disappointed, although, based on the trailer, was certainly surprised, pleasantly.
For those who have not seen the movie, and plan to do so, I would recommend not reading the rest of this blog, as it may spoil the plot. For those who have seen it, or don't expect to, here is my take.
The Hanks character, Otto Anderson, is the classic curmudgeon. Everyone is an idiot. Nothing is as good as it was before. He speaks his mind with little filter, and with little concern for others' feelings. He is somewhat likable, partly because it is Tom Hanks, partly because some of what he says rings true for me as an older man, but mostly because there is a hidden Otto that slowly gets revealed when he fixes his neighbor's dishwasher while babysitting their kids so they can have a date, and offers to teach that same neighbor to drive when he realizes the person who was attempting the task is, well, an idiot.
As the movie progresses, we are also provided with glimpses of Otto's life, specifically how he met his wife, their mutual love, and the tragedy that altered the direction of their lives. The why behind his perception of life in the present, becomes apparent, and explains why he has decided to end his life.
The concept of suicide in this movie is presented in a way I can't ever recall in any other film. To say it is a bit comical insults the seriousness of why someone would want to kill them self, yet there is humor in the attempt that results in the hook holding the noose from the ceiling giving way, tumbling him to the ground, still alive, and the last attempt with a shotgun that only results in (another) hole in the ceiling. Are the failures a result of the fact that he really doesn't want to do it, because, as we find out in many instances, Otto is proficient in everything else he does? He does not suffer others' lack of knowledge precisely because he learns how to do things, and then successfully accomplishes those tasks.
The counter to Otto is his new neighbor, Marisol, a high energy, outgoing, pregnant, young woman who seems to base all her choices and actions on emotion, a direct contrast to Otto's logic. She is the person who accidentally foils his last suicide attempt in the garage, who brings him food to say thank you when he helps her seemingly incompetent husband navigate what Otto considers tasks that only an idiot can't do. And it is Marisol who gives Otto a reason to live, now that his dear wife Sonya has passed.
The turning point comes when Otto's neighbor is being evicted by an unscrupulous real estate company, and an absent, unloving son who has been (too easily, in my mind) duped by said company. Otto puts a plan in motion to fight the eviction using a social media journalist (what is that, he says earlier in the movie), and the avarice and arrogance of the real estate company and its representative against them. This is crucial because the neighbor was once Otto's best friend but Otto had let one negative happenstance cloud his judgement and spoil their friendship.
One of the side plots of the movie, involves the young person who throws daily unwanted papers onto all the properties of the neighborhood where Otto lives. Another idiot dispersing idiotic junk mail. Whether through Marisol's influence or Otto's thawing to life, there is a scene where Otto comments that the bike being ridden by the paper tosser, needs the chain greased to reduce the squeaking. Again, to Otto, such a simple task that any idiot should know to do, but rather than just relaying that sentiment, Otto helps the young man, and in assisting him, finds out that Malcolm was one of Sonya's students. A teacher who Malcolm remembers as the only one who accepted him as a trans young man, the first to call him Malcolm when so many others would not. Then, when Malcolm's dad kicks him out of the house because he can't accept that Malcolm does not reflect his vision of what a man should be, Otto lets him crash on his sofa, calling Malcolm's father an idiot, which was, I thought, the first time the idiot moniker was actually deserved.
So yes, the movie is woke, as I commented to Nora when it ended. Whether those who have decided that it is best to create laws that tell a child that his/her self identity is not important to society would watch "A Man Called Otto", and realize their hypocrisy, I can't tell, but I would expect no less of those who are boycotting Bud Light to also boycott this movie, and perhaps even Tom Hanks for making such a statement.
Perhaps someday, someone, maybe even someone who reads my blog, can explain to me why politicians, pundits, influencers, and everyday Americans believe God has made so many errors in creation. Whether it be in the creation of an inferior race, or allowing so many people the option of believing in different versions of God, or producing beings with different sexual inclinations, or an alternate understanding of their own gender identity, this god of ours seems to be far less proficient at making people as one would expect from a divine entity.
Then again, maybe we are the ones with a skewed understanding of God's creation plan.
A Man Called Otto is the story of someone who loses his reason to live when he loses his soul mate, but gains the meaning of life when he realizes that what attracted him to Sonya in the first place was her understanding that it is only through compassion for others and recognition of the beauty of the diversity of creation, can our lives be meaningful.
And so, at the end, when Otto does pass as a result of his congenital heart defect and not from his own hand, he dies knowing that he has left Marisol and her family, and Malcolm, and even the strange neighbor we occasionally see in the movie walking with exaggerated steps (like an idiot Otto from early in the film thought), better off than when he met them. And isn't that our real purpose, to leave the planet just a bit better off than when we arrived?
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