A man is walking down the street, tripping, falling awkwardly, his hands and legs cast apart, his suitcase opened, papers out, his hat is hanging on the tree, his pants are torn.
There is no background story. This is abstract and funny.
Or take this: the same man is having a fight with his wife, they curse and shout, then one of them trips, falls awkwardly, hands and legs cast apart, everything around falls too.
There is some background story already. This is less abstract. But still funny.
Alright, now take this: our hero is in Iraq, trying to save the life of a bomb explosion victim, making his way through debris and ruins. He trips and falls awkwardly, his hands and legs cast apart, I bet his pants are torn. Would you still laugh?
My whole issue about comedies, is when the plot occurs on some globally dramatic background, like World War Two, the war in Iraq, or something more personal – when a person’s hopes and dreams are ruthlessly destroyed. So there again, when a man trips and falls but you can see a pile of corpses on the background, I doubt whether we can still call it a comedy.
Take “Life is beautiful” for example. I cannot help but watch it from the perspective of “behind the scenes”. Something horrible is going on. Something morbid and tragic, and it just cannot be ignored. A thousand of jokes and funny gestures won’t make it a comedy.
Image via Wikipedia
Another comedy that actually made me cry was “Something’s gotta give” with Jack Nicholson. I couldn’t but feel genuinely sorry for that woman, having lived a lonely life, raising kids and working hard, at last meeting the man of her dreams. This isn’t the same when a young girl is being dumped by a guy of the same age. Here, this is about two mature, elderly people, who know the value of true relationship. People, who know how hard it is to find the “one and only” in a world where there is so much artificial noise. And then, when he leaves her for just another young body, following his old habit of switching women like gloves, buying them for his money, I can vividly see her pain and universal disappointment. I can feel the grief to its very bottom and it fills my heart with inexpressible sorrow. She truly suffers and this is not a matter of caprice or boredom. The main heroes’ age and life experience play the major role here, adding a pinch of potion to this love story. Had it been two young people who broke up and then came back together again, I would say: okay, well, they’re still young, they’re learning. They have to go through this pain, this is the only way to learn to value what you’ve got after all.
This movie has a happy ending when they get back together and Harry (Jack) realizes that he had made a mistake by forsaking his true love. A great movie, only that I wouldn’t call it a comedy.
Another striking, greatest picture of all times is “La tigre e la neve” (“The tiger and the snow”) starring Roberto Benigni, the same, old optimist. I love comedies, so I bought a ticket for that one. This was painful, really painful, nothing but painful to sit there and cry watching the course of events, assessing the reality behind the “funny” episodes.
Image via Wikipedia
Image via Wikipedia
Maybe I should stop taking life too seriously and learn to look at things in a simple way – a man rides a camel and falls – it’s funny. A man falls and curses – it’s funny. Who cares that it happens in a ruined country, who cares that the love of his life is dying somewhere out there and his heart is torn apart? Maybe I need to ignore these casualities and stop looking at a picture as a whole. Just to learn to separate the historical, political or personal background from the ongoing laughter and always look at the bright side of life?
I only wish I could.
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