Magical

Rating: 9/10 (16 December 2011)

There is a rare gift in film-making that can take you beyond the ordinary, beyond what most films portray as the "Human element." What has come to pass these last few years in Hollywood and elsewhere as "Movies" is largely the big budget blockbuster that delves into the gut-wrenching emotions of love, hatred and other primitive feelings as they attempt to make us feel a part of the life and death struggle.
Those are fine as far as they go, and I like a good bang-bang shoot 'em up as much as the next guy. They've evolved as I said to use more technology and more "So called" magic to do what they do. It's all still smoke and mirrors unfortunately. None of them comes close to telling the sensitive tale that is Hugo.
We first meet the young boy where he lives, carrying on his meager, miserable existence in a train station. And yet, you have the sense that to him, it's not miserable, he's not lonely, but rather that he's fascinated by the world around him: The life, the hustle, the bustle, the activity, the people, and then you realize it, this is a child, and he's innocent! And yet, Hugo has suffered much in his young life.
The tragedy that he is becomes part of all of us. That is real screen magic. The audience begins to empathize with him, even to feel his pain. The pain is real, it's inside each of us, it's the longing for connection, to be part of the story, to make a difference! Those who were in our theater that didn't fall asleep (there were a few, I must be honest, and they snored - how rude!) were touched by the magic of the film-making and given a fresh glimpse of hope, of a new life. We made a connection with the past and learned how that makes us better in our present. We learned that relationships really do matter and they are worth fighting for, even if it means we might lose everything.
Hugo is a winner! The magic is not in the film-making per se, rather it's in our hearts as we learn that we are all Hugo.