What a delightful rendering of Hindu philosophy!

Rating: 10/10 (4 February 2006)

In Hindu philosophy, reincarnation supposes that life is a cycle of birth, death, and re-birth ... which continues over and over until the soul finally reaches the state known as Nirvana. In theory, the soul attempts to improve upon itself with each re-birth ... and eventually becomes an "old soul" (many reincarnations) just before Nirvana is attained.
In the case of this movie, the cycle is confined to a single day. And the improvements Phil Connors (Bill Murray) makes with each cycle are slow but sure. He transforms himself from being self-centered and egotistical to being life-centered and compassionate. Quite a transformation for a single day ... but it helped that he could repeat the day until he got it right. And during the time between his challenges to this cycle and the time he "accepts" the cycle as his lot in life, the transformation occurs.
By the way, here's a trivial tidbit with a little mystery. In "Groundhog Day," one of Connors' first encounters is with a character called Ned Ryerson - someone who grew up and went to school with Connors (but that Connors has forgotten about). Bill Murray was a good friend and colleague of comedian, John Belushi. When John died, he was buried in a Martha's Vineyard graveyard (Massachusetts). Murray has been to the gravesite ... and, the grave next to Belushi has a tombstone for its occupant -- Ned Ryerson.
Screenplay writer, Danny Rubin, swears he didn't know this ... that he just "thought up the name," thinking that another actor, Ned Beatty, would be ideal for the role. He's never been to the gravesite, either. Perhaps Rubin did just "think up" the name as he says and it's just a cosmic coincidence. Or perhaps, he was able to tap into Murray's stream of consciousness (another Hindu possibility) and took the name Ned Ryerson from that stream. I guess we'll never know.