The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Movie Review

I watched 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' with a bunch of friends again yesterday. There's something about that movie that takes me back to it again and again. I sat down and tried to distill everything about the movie that appeals to me and figured that it was several little things that together, make it one of my all-time favorites. The list of those little ingredients is below:

• You can easily relate to it – The movie is about everyday folks - people like you and me. Ben Stiller looks like an Average Joe while Kristen Wiig isn’t too extraordinary looking either. The protagonist (Walter) in the movie has problems, fears and insecurities, is financially constrained, lives from paycheck to paycheck (or very close to it), is sold to routine (he’s worked there for 16 years) and doesn’t know what comes next… But like ordinary people everywhere, he is a day-dreamer and dreams of heroic deeds, extraordinary achievements and in those brief moments when he lives in his day dreams, he becomes a totally different person – strong, confident, adventurous. It’s this innocence in his character and his demeanor that make him so easy to relate to
• The awkward clumsiness and the subtleties – The awkwardness in the movie is very endearing. Be it the interactions and communication between Walter and his love interest Cheryl at various points in the story or the small half-hug between Walter and his co-worker in the elevator after they are fired or the conversations that Walter has with various people on the rusty boat or in many other places during the movie, awkwardness is the main ingredient to many of these interactions. I particularly love the clumsy way in which Walter asks Cheryl out and her shy and awkward response. The look on both Walter and Cheryl’s faces when he holds her hand in the end is beautiful too – there is a cute shyness and beautiful subtlety to that scene. I also love the clumsy way in which Sean responds to Walter’s accusation of his stupidity to hide the cover photo negative in a wallet fold. The subtleties in the movie are lovely too – the look of quiet pride on Walter’s face as he sees Life’s final cover leaves you with a warm glow and a tiny lump in your throat. It is this very awkwardness that is inherent to most scenes and the tiny subtleties in the movie that makes the conversations and relationships all the more real – very few real people have the swagger or the confidence to pull off all interactions with another person with élan! In real life, where emotions or feelings are involved, there is awkwardness and the movie captures that essence beautifully
• The music – The background scores to the movie could not have been more appropriate! Be it “Step Out” when Walter suddenly decides to take charge or Cheryl singing “Space Oddity” when Walter jumps onto a rickety helicopter with a drunk pilot or “Don’t let it Pass” as Walter and Sean play a ball game with Afghan kids with lofty, snow-capped mountains in the background, the music captures the emotion of the scene wonderfully and takes the audience with it. There’s a lilting and quiet outer-worldliness to the music that transforms each scene into something beyond surreal
• Comic dialogues and brilliant one-liners - The movie has some fantastic one liners and dialogues including the piece where the new and improved Walter ticks off Ted Hendricks or when he puts down his fake beard in his day dream which provide a lot of comic relief. However, my favorite ones are al from Sean O’Connell and I’ve pasted them below from imdb:

1.       Sean O'Connell: Beautiful things don't ask for attention. (When talking about the snow leopard)

2.       Walter Mitty: When are you going to take it?

Sean O'Connell: Sometimes I don't. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don't like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.

Walter Mitty: Stay in it?

Sean O'Connell: Yeah. Right there… Right here.

3.       Walter Mitty: What was the picture?

Sean O'Connell: Let's just call it a ghost cat, Walter Mitty.

• The fluid cinematography and the spectacular landscapes – Iceland is outstandingly breathtaking. Period. However, the movie has done a fantastic job of infusing more life into those beautiful landscapes. One has to see the movie to realize what I am alluding to (and I do not want to go into more detail on this, for the fear of escaping into another of my many day dreams of Iceland). The other amazing point to note in the movie is the flawless cinematography. Take for instance the initial credits where the motto of Life magazine is meshed with the everyday scenes from New York, to provide a seamless view into Walter’s daily routine. This is just one of various such transitions in the film that enhance the experience for the viewer
• The movie is not about the underdog beating the cruel, heartless manager, and thus, the system: No, the movie is not about Walter Mitty beating Ted Hendricks, though the viewer does get a vaguely triumphant feeling when Walter tells Ted off at the end. No, the movie is something beyond that – it’s about overcoming your own fears and inhibitions and seizing the moment, it’s about going for something you crave for, it’s about courage and going in to the unknown, it’s for searching for something and finding it deep within. Sure, the movie does have some unrealistic elements to it – for instance, despite Walter’s seemingly absent fitness routine, he is able to climb to 15,000 ft and look none the worse for wear at the end, or that he is able to travel from Greenland to Iceland to Afghanistan in search of an elusive Sean, in just a little more than a week (and I’m sure there are other things like this). However the movie offers inspiration for those who are stuck in a routine for a long time to let go and provides inspiration to move beyond dreams and make them a reality. The movie takes “Carpe Diem” to heart, urges its viewers to do the same and the effect is profound. Finally, the movie is an excellent tribute whether intentionally or not, to the motto of Life. As Walter puts it, “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”

Book Review: Escape from Camp 14

Imagine a world where every minute of your life is watched, where your days are filled with hard labor for more than 14 hours but where you are perpetually hungry, where your diet only consists of the same two things everyday, where punishment consists of not just denying these meager meals, but further physical assault including beating, cutting off of fingers, slapping, kneeling on your knees in extremely cold weather for hours on end or even having to hang upside down from the ceiling till you are forced to confess to crimes that you may or may not have committed. Imagine having the best moments of your childhood being those few moments when your belly is full, albeit with rats or snakes or whatever you could find that did not attract punishment. What if I told you that in this world, that the words 'mother' or 'father' did not elucidate any love or affection but anger and resentment, and where you view your parents as competitors for food and shelter and those who must be watched carefully and reported if caught doing anything abnormal? Furthermore, what if in this world, you would be oblivious about the existence of telephones, internet, technology or modern means of transport? Where the only two things you felt were fear and hunger? Does this not sound like an extreme form of 1984, magnifying George Orwell's extreme fears? Or maybe a concentration camp at the height of the Nazi rule? Now what if I told you, that this situation exists. Today. Playing out as you read, in a corner of the world that people choose to either pity or ignore or worse still, are unaware of its existence - a prison camp in North Korea. 

Escape from Camp 14 is a chilling account of life in a prison camp in one of the most oppressive countries in the world. Several documentaries (like this one and this one) from the recent past, have made the world aware of what life looks like in North Korea. In 2009, the North Korean News Agency issued a statement that read, "There is no "human rights issue" in this country, as everyone leads the most dignified and happy life." However, any mildly aware person would know that the truth is far from it and that under the garb of a caring state, the military-led government and the first family control every aspect of life and dictate where one lives, what one does for a living and where one is allowed to travel. A state where everyone is subject to repeated brainwashing of the extreme kindness and greatness of 'The Great Leader' Kim Il Sung and 'The Dear Leader' Kim Jong Il, repeatedly violates every aspect of basic human rights, much to the chagrin of human rights agencies world-wide. The book however opens our eyes to something deeper and far worse than our wildest dreams and exposes us to the life of one person who was born and bred in a prison camp - Camp 14, but who managed to escape from there, and through his eyes, paints a vivid picture of life in the camp. While the existence of these camps have been repeatedly denied by the North Korean establishment, the utter breakdown of not just human rights, but even basic human values is appalling.  

Shin's life is one of horror - born of a forced marriage orchestrated by the camp establishment between his mother and father, who were themselves paying for the "crimes" of their relatives, Shin is doomed to an existence within the camp's boundaries. Shin's boyhood and teenage years are described in shocking detail through his eyes and shows how terrorizing living in a world where schooling is just a sham, where children are encouraged and even rewarded to report on their parents' and each others' wrongdoings and where kids had to invent lies just to avoid harsher punishment, or worse, be denied meals, can be. When all the things that make us human - our ability to think and empathize, our ability to feel powerful positive such trust, love and affection break down, we become worse than animals. Driven by constant hunger and fear of punishment, we become slaves to the establishment and are willing to spill on anyone, even our own kith and kin, if it comes with the mere possibility of a few more scraps of food or easier work. Shin's is a remarkable story that portrays courage, action and extremely good luck and takes us through his journey from near death to escape through the electrified fences to China, the United States and South Korea. The book also beautifully describes the emotional journey of the man who gradually evolved from mere animal instincts to feel happiness, confidence and also extreme guilt. Shin's years in the camp marred him for life as he still struggles to cope with life in a free world today. This book written in a lucid and gripping style is highly recommended to anyone who wishes to know more about North Korea or oppressive regimes, but above all, I would recommend this book to everyone who cares about human rights and values and most of all, being human.