A beautiful experience

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2010)

Where do I begin with such an extraordinary, intelligent and thought provoking piece of art? Lester Burnham is a depressed, middle-aged man, married to a hysterical wife and hated by his teenage daughter. He doesn't see any perspective in his life, hates his job and feels, there is something missing... After meeting his daughters best friend, Angela, he however decides to change all that...
Some wrote, there was nothing special about this plot, but it is the description of any life. There is a reason, why so many love this movie and it is because they want experience something similar to Lester. He tries to break out of his cage and believes to experience real happiness. The genius thing is, that he looks for beauty in revitalizing a long forgotten past, whereas as Ricky teaches us, beauty is to find in every bit of world surrounding us. Lester cannot find beauty and happiness in his past. Angela, the symbol of his past, reveals, that she is an illusion. Yet the past is haunting us (Col. Fits). Lester flees into his past and is punished by an environment, that is not capable in dealing with this. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong about looking in your memories and your past for signs of happiness, that is lacking in your adult life, but we have to find a way of finding this beauty in us and the world around us. Lester is a tragic figure, but he has experienced what it feels like to be free (his personal revolution). He just looked for beauty in the wrong way, it was just an illusion.
This is one of my favorite films and it is a joy to watch it again and again. This text represents of course just my own view and I would never claim it to be true. But this is the real beauty of a masterpiece: to get something out of it for yourself and for your life, isn't it? :)