A definitive movie in the 60s

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2006)

The drama/romance/comedy The Graduate, by director by Mike Nichols, was as exciting to watch as a suspense thriller in the sense that you really couldn't tell where the story was going at any point in the film. From one scene to the next it was awesome to follow what each character would do next. For example, would Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) really have an affair with a woman twice his age? Is he actually falling for a girl whose mother brought him into maturity? I was asking myself questions like these throughout the film.
The opening scene begins with a close up and pulling back shot of the protagonist, Benjamin Braddock. This type of centralizing cinematography seems very useful in elucidating Ben's feelings of being cramped and held in a place he can't get out of. There is an incorporation of "pop" music as Ben is being moved along a set path by a standing escalator. At this time he is having orders being commanded at him from a loudspeaker and it is truly a metaphor for his life. He is a college graduate who doesn't know what he is doing with his future because it seems he has always been told what to do, and how to do it. This is the film's recurring theme, one of youthful alienation and the feeling of entrapment by society. Benjamin had been living a life of preparation, but hasn't seemed to decide on what he is preparing for. This movie depicts his struggles with breaking free from the life he has been made to think is his, and the challenges of finding his own path to follow.
In the beginning, Ben is magnificently melancholy, and the environment of his household only increases his feeling of despair. His parents are overbearingly proud of him, and are waiting on pins and needles to see what he is going to do with his life, but Ben doesn't even feel like he has a life. Then Ben is re-introduced to a family friend, Mrs. Robinson. As an ex-alcoholic seductress, she opens a whole new world to Benjamin, and the way she does it is oh so thrilling to view. She is unbelievably sure of herself, and the means in which she uses her age and figure to solidify her affair with Ben are purely ingenious, and the power she has over him are at times nothing but comedic.
Their affair continues throughout the summer, until Ben is faced with a decision that he has sworn to Mrs. Robinson he has already made, to go on a date with her daughter Elaine. Although he tries his best to give her the cold shoulder, love prevails, and he ends up succumbing to his heart. Everything of course falls apart, because who can really have an affair with someone's mother and not think that everything will come to the surface at some point, especially when one of the parties in the affair develops such animosity towards the other. It is at this point where the theme of water really comes to light. Again and again Benjamin finds his escape in water. Whether he is gazing into his fish tank or submerging himself in his pool this theme of escapism is really apparent to the viewer. Ben is incredibly passive aggressive, and water becomes his safe house. Under the water he can hear no one, and he can be truly alone. He escapes all the pressures that are coming down on him, even if it is only for a brief moment.
At this juncture in the movie Ben really comes into his own. He makes some rash, yet full hearted decisions, and it is revealed to the viewer that he is finally capable of breaking away and doing what he wants. He breaks through his passiveness and makes the journey to claim his love, Elaine. The final scene is extraordinarily energizing. Benjamin crosses a line of no return, striving for the one he loves to the point of breaking up her marriage ceremony. In one of Dustin Hoffman's most memorable scenes, he takes the dive of putting his entire self on the line, and wins! The whole last scene is filled with excitement, yet when the two finally get away they are engulfed in pure solemnity. Which leaves the viewer asking, what's next?