Society is an institution, which was never formally adapted by human beings. From the earliest times in human civilizations, our ancestors chose to live in a group, which eventually took its shape and form to evolve into the modern society. The logic and intelligence that man has inherited from its predecessors is a result of millions of years of adaptive selection of genes. These adaptive measures have today provided us, the humans with both physical and mental skills which aid in our survival. But the act of living in a family or any social system was primarily initiated by the inherent nature of us to gain physical and emotional security. Therefore we can understand our actions and judgments as an individual, but as an entity of a society our skills and intellect are not adapted to fully grasp the true dynamics of our own social system.
This inability more than often makes us all overlook the natural instincts and choices of our lives and pushes us to follow aspirations and goals that may be mirages of happiness and satisfaction. The illusion is woven in our lifestyles and is rarely understood. American Beauty is a thought-provoking movie, which tries to investigate this hoax and bring out the inner beauty of life beneath this layer of self imposed fraud.
Cast: Kevin Spacey as Lester, Annette Bening as Carolyn, Thora Birch as Jane, Wes Bentley as Ricky, Mena Suvari as Angela, Chris Cooper as Col. Fitts
Lester Burnham: [narrating] It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself.
American Beauty tells a story of Lester Burnham who is totally frustrated with his life. His wife Carolyn feels his husband is a loser and his daughter Jane hates her father. Carolyn herself is a stressed out unsuccessful real state agent. Jane is an average teenage girl who is insecure about her bad looks in comparison to her friend Angela Hayes who is a glam doll. At school game of Jane, Lester is infatuated by Angela and seeks this lust as an inspiration to change his life..
Meanwhile a family comes to live next door. The father Colonel Fitts is a homophobic disciplinarian. The son Ricky Fitts is obsessed with his video camera and finds beauty in odd things. He falls for Jane and makes her realize her true beauty. What follows is a very interesting and ingenious plot with characters revealing their actual faces.
Angela Hayes: I don’t think that there’s anything worse than being ordinary.
The performances are the best of the league. Kevin Spacey fits his character to ’T’. His facial expressions convey the mockery, amusement and disappointment with perfect ease. Annette Bening also performs with professional ease and her body language defines her unrest throughout the movie. All others have also given brilliant performances esp. Wes Bentley as Ricky Fitts.
The movie is directorial debut of Sam Mendes. And he captures the attention of viewers with a taut and engrossing motion picture. The scenes and the interactions reflect the intellectual handling of a great script. The Script writer Alan Ball has astutely presented the flaws in our lifestyles and even though the movie has a sad end, it promises hope and an understanding of what really matters. Alan Ball was inspired to write this script after seeing a paper bag floating in air.
Ricky Fitts: It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember... and I need to remember... Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.
All through the film we see the various characters with their insecurities and how they are aggrieved by trivial things. The viewers must not confuse it as a movie which just shows the fractured American society. This movie goes beyond it and tells us to ’’Look Closer’’ (Film’s Tag Line) and grasp the idea of reality. All of us go through problems and insecurities in life which maybe due to the fact that we are more sensitive about our image than ourselves. We tend to forget that beyond this social fabric of competition, anger, lust, ambition, pride and the whole show business lies what is truly magical. You would say love...but not exactly... its something else.. when you know that real happiness comes from appreciating life and everything around you.
I will let Lester explain it to you:
Lester Burnham: [narrating] I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn’t a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street... Or my grandmother’s hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the first time I saw my cousin Tony’s brand new Firebird... And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn. 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... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry... you will someday.