The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller, 2013)

 

The first film directed by Ben Stiller that I saw was the 1996 black comedy The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey and truth is that I was amazed with how interesting and dark that was. You see I had never much respect for Ben Stiller's work, the majority of the films that he acted were category Z comedies with ridiculous premises and ridiculous characters. The only movie that enjoyed him acting was the Wes Anderson movie, The Royal Tenenbaums. The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty I saw it by luck one day in the TV. There was a friend of mine who had told me about that movie and how big impression he had made to him. Truth is that I was still skeptic towards the film. But it is fair to say that all of my fears and second thoughts were simple farts in the strong wind. The movie was a straight knockout. A movie so fragile, true and sensitive that I almost cried at some moments.

You see there are movies out there that don't simply want to entertain you, but they want to make you feel vulnerable. And by that word I mean that they create a mood, an environment, that in it you find yourself thinking and reflecting. That movie with its undeniably visionary main character wants to make you see things from the inside. Not simply observe the movie, the character and the premise, but really get into the shoes of the main character. And only then you'll be able to fully comprehend the beauty and the deeply human comment of the film. Because the insecurities of Walter Mitty are insecurities that we all suffer from regardless if it's in the exact same way or a similar way. The insecurities of Walter are the epitome, the core of being a human. And in that way the movie is a straight tour de force of what humans are able to communicate through an artistic piece.