Despite being labelled a comedy by many, "About Schmidt" is not a comedy. It is a tragic chronicle of the old age, a sharp desolate reflection of a society that abandons the elderly when they can no longer serve our society. It is about loneliness,unemployment and unlawfulness all told with in the tone of a tragicomedy and a brilliant Jack Nicholson performance. That some moments in the story are awfully slow certainly hurts the film.
After many good years of service, Warren Schmidt retires. Retiring brings to mind some very attractive ideas but what Schmidt does not know is that he will become discarded by society, be regarded next to useless. Retirement will mean the beginning of another routine, one that has been advertised as the happiest of our existence: the one of a dedicated man resting after a life of service.
The death of his wife and the inevitable and imminent marriage of his daughter with a guy he does not approve of only strengthens his condition of futile citizen. Schmidt becomes a lonely bachelor but worst of all, he realizes that everything he constructed in his life does not have, in a genuine way, the value he thought they had. Discovering an old romance between his wife and his best friend is not exactly the kind of thing that helps. But when it seems that there is not escape for him, the script introduces a touching element that substantially changes the pulse of the film: Ndugu Umbo, an African child that Schmidt will take care of as a father figure, contributing with 22 dollars and a letter each month in which he confesses to the small boy his small everyday tragedy. In another brilliant move by the screenplay, we never actually get to see this boy because he is simply a symbol of Schmidt's journey to regaining a sense of purpose he should never have lost.
The film had the mark of a good road movie but without the adventurous spirit. Removing the character from his home and launching him to the road serves directer Alexander Payne to emphasize Schmidt's loneliness; the lifeless, dry lands can be reflected in his spirit. There is an obvious connection with Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" which was also about a man who on a journey to receiving a honary degree, attempted to reevaluate his life. The major thematic difference is that here, there is no man defeated by time but one, enormously humane who does not want to retain his steps but proceed some more. And in an optimistic message the film tells us it doesn't matter if society leaves us by the side: there will always be a motive that will unite us to life and let us participate in a human experience. Here it is a kid from Tanzania who restores the purpose of life to Schmidt.
When once asked what he likes his actors to deliver in a film Payne responded saying: "I like my actors to be the mirror reflecting the spectator's shame." With great fashion he achieves it. This is an entertaining and analytical film filled with details that it is impossible not to see yourself reflected in.
After many good years of service, Warren Schmidt retires. Retiring brings to mind some very attractive ideas but what Schmidt does not know is that he will become discarded by society, be regarded next to useless. Retirement will mean the beginning of another routine, one that has been advertised as the happiest of our existence: the one of a dedicated man resting after a life of service.
The death of his wife and the inevitable and imminent marriage of his daughter with a guy he does not approve of only strengthens his condition of futile citizen. Schmidt becomes a lonely bachelor but worst of all, he realizes that everything he constructed in his life does not have, in a genuine way, the value he thought they had. Discovering an old romance between his wife and his best friend is not exactly the kind of thing that helps. But when it seems that there is not escape for him, the script introduces a touching element that substantially changes the pulse of the film: Ndugu Umbo, an African child that Schmidt will take care of as a father figure, contributing with 22 dollars and a letter each month in which he confesses to the small boy his small everyday tragedy. In another brilliant move by the screenplay, we never actually get to see this boy because he is simply a symbol of Schmidt's journey to regaining a sense of purpose he should never have lost.
The film had the mark of a good road movie but without the adventurous spirit. Removing the character from his home and launching him to the road serves directer Alexander Payne to emphasize Schmidt's loneliness; the lifeless, dry lands can be reflected in his spirit. There is an obvious connection with Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" which was also about a man who on a journey to receiving a honary degree, attempted to reevaluate his life. The major thematic difference is that here, there is no man defeated by time but one, enormously humane who does not want to retain his steps but proceed some more. And in an optimistic message the film tells us it doesn't matter if society leaves us by the side: there will always be a motive that will unite us to life and let us participate in a human experience. Here it is a kid from Tanzania who restores the purpose of life to Schmidt.
When once asked what he likes his actors to deliver in a film Payne responded saying: "I like my actors to be the mirror reflecting the spectator's shame." With great fashion he achieves it. This is an entertaining and analytical film filled with details that it is impossible not to see yourself reflected in.