American Beauty

American Beauty…

“I need a father who’s a role model, not some horny geek boy whose gonna spray his shorts whenever I bring a girl friend home…someone should just really put him out of his misery”

The starting lines to a movie which is incomparable to any American mainstream cinema. The movie has been one of the most revolutionizing experiences for me.

There is a dream; there is always a dream, which is not yours, or not your neighbors, but the dream by a society as a whole. The simple American theme of a white fence, a small garden, and a car with a happy family has been heavily traditionalized. It reaches such a level, that man no longer runs for an ambition to become something, or to do something, but to pursue this mirage. It’s like a guarantee that comes attached with a T.V, if you use it this way, you won’t have any problem.

Somewhere down the line the mirage split, and revealed the ugly face of a baseless society. When relationships become less important than material goods, and people run after the common dream of the society, that is, “the portrayal of success is more important than success itself”.

“I am 42 years old, in less than a year, I will be dead”

Sam Mendes, in his debut, exploits this confusion of modern society and builds up on the base of American Beauty. The movie starts with the protagonist Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) lamenting over his life, until now, and breaking the spell of a normal movie experience by the dramatic opening “I am 42 years old, in less than a year, I will be dead”

“Both my wife and my daughter think I am this gigantic loser”

This is the image Lester has, for himself and his family. Jane (Thora Birch) is a typical teenager, who hates her parents (first lines of this review), is dissatisfied with her body, with her life, and doesn’t know what to do about it. Pretty much like every character in the movie. “angry, troubled, insecure, I want to tell her that its all going to pass, but I don’t want to lie to her” said Lester.

“I will sell this house today”

Carolyn Burnham, Lester’s wife. Real estate: the most powerful of all business’s or empires in America, plays a clichéd role. Carolyn is a real estate agent, not exactly on an uphill business, on a war with real estate ‘king’ Buddy Kane. She shows the greed for power, and for authority, the possession of material goods, like Italian furniture, big cars, and lots of self help tapes. Always bitching about her life, her family, and her business, she grows magnificent red roses. Devoid of beauty though.

“Any friend of Janie’s is a friend of mine”

Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) is perfection epitomized. She is sin, she is beauty, and she is the role model, trying to be a role model. Angela plays the subject of Lester’s affections and infatuations. She wants to be a model, and thinks herself to be at the top of the world. She is the subject ‘beauty’ in this movie, chiefly. Smoking in the school, appearing cool by telling tales of sexual escapades she has had, she tries to be famous. Her motto in life is “there is nothing worse in life than being ordinary”.

One person I won’t introduce in dialogue form is the protagonist, the hero, Ricky Fitts. Son of Colonel Frank, he is a drug dealer, a monk, an observer, a mental institution patient, and an extremely rich man.

The movie:

American beauty is an experience, an experience into the lives of 2 families equally messed up, trying to make a place for themselves, and trying to be normal in an abnormal world. It shows that it is never late to get up, and show what you are made of. The movie deals with many of the prevalent vices of the present society. A society which bans nudity on television, but allows the sale of relics of Nazism, promoting Hitler. There is open show of drugs in the movie, how it affects the life of a ‘normal’ person and makes him what he always wanted to be; Happy.

We encounter the sexual exploitations of a 16 year old towards a 42 year old, in a beautiful cinematography which makes it seem like beauty, not some pervert action. It’s the question of who controls whom? Why? The way Angela seduces Lester, fully knowing the impact she has on men, and still, afraid. And when in the end, when Lester has her, in his power, he chooses to let it go.

We see the homophobic father who kills, kills because of his impotent anger towards his own son, whom he can’t control, towards a zombie life which he hates, the emptiness in his eyes exemplifying the fact.

We watch a wife, whose desire for material happiness takes her to adultery, to a communication of a sense of power thro her enemy. Who mechanically and methodically handles everything in her life, her husband, her child, her roses. The way she finds the false sense of power through firearms.

We meet the daughter, who talks about parricide on camera, hates her family, and tries to be like her friend. When in fact, at last she realizes her true happiness thro Ricky, identifies herself.

But the question in all this remains, are we living our lives according to ourselves, or putting up a façade for the world to see and admire, whereas somewhere our true happiness gets lost in the pages of time, and we become robots. What is more important, living life like a zombie, foregoing on your desires, and killing your soul, or drug yourself and enjoy the beauty, the omnipresent beauty on this planet.

How many times during a day does one stop and admire the small things in life, the wind, sky, roses…

If given an option, I would think about going for the latter, but not sacrifice myself.

This movie enormous food for thought makes us think about things we had almost forgotten. The end of this movie disturbs, and is somewhat over-dramatic, but justified none the less.

Roses play an important part, when every time Lester fantasizes about Angela, there is a shower of petals, fresh rose petals, contrasted with the way in which his wife handles her roses at the start of the movie. He sees beauty thinking about the same roses, which his wife handles without emotion. Only order; lots and lots of bloodless order.

I recommend this movie to anyone who likes food for thought, and wants to question our very basic fundamentals.

For closing this review I put one of the most beautiful ending lines in film history:

“I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it’s hard to stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst...

You will someday.”

Happy watching

p.s: for those who have seen this movie, please read the comments section.