The Messenger - The Movie Mystic: Stranger Than Fiction

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Thursday, 21 August 2008

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The Movie Mystic: Stranger Than Fiction

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Written by Stephen Simon

Are we the
author of our
life or do we
give that power
away to others?

Have you ever felt you might be living someone else’s life? STRANGER THAN FICTION, looks at that question from a unique, and whimsical eye.

Meet Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), mild-mannered and utterly bored and boring agent for the IRS. Harold wakes up at the same time each morning, catches the same bus, eats the same food, and sleepwalks through his life until, one day, he hears a woman’s voice speaking about––Harold’s life as he is living it. After confirming with those around him that no one else hears the voice, he sees a psychologist, who tells him he may be schizophrenic.

As Harold desperately tries to unravel this mystery, the film also follows the challenges facing author Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) as she decides how to construct the demise of the character in her novel––Harold Crick.

Convinced the voice is a narration of his own life, Harold also is faced with falling in love with an irreverent young baker (Maggie Gyllenhall) whom he is auditing for the IRS. Ultimately, Harold finds an English professor (Dustin Hoffman) who helps Harold discover the truth of what is happening to him. When Harold recognizes the voice he is hearing as belonging to an author trying to finish her book, he becomes aware that he is a character in her book and about to face his own demise. Is his whole life merely an illusion created by the author of a novel? Even if it is, he has met the woman of his dreams and he’s not ending to this story. Beyond desperate, Harold seeks out and finds Eiffel who is as shocked to see him as he is to meet the author of his life. Completely perplexed, she gives him the book to read, including the details of his own imminent demise. What does he do?
Even just for it’s audacious originality, STRANGER THAN FICTION is worth seeing. Happily, the film is also a complete delight to experience from start to finish.

The film is an amazing metaphor for the life we live. Are we the author of our life or do we give that power to others? Are we spiritual beings living a human existence so we can play out the karma of our soul’s journey? What happens when we impact another’s life in a way that changes the course of life itself? Can love change everything, including our destiny?

All those questions and more are explored in the film while, at the same time, we are enchanted by Harold and the adventure he pursues. Much of the credit goes to Will Ferrell who is absolutely brilliant, charming and understated in his portrayal of a character who questions the reality of his own existence. Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhall, and Dustin Hoffman are always wonderful and they shine here as well but, if you’ve only seen Ferrell as a broad comedian, he will be the true revelation to you in this film.

When a film as charming and life affirming as STRANGER THAN FICTION comes along, it often gets lost in the shuffle. It opened in 2006, however, the film can be now treasured on DVD and I heartily recommend it as a sensational film to be enjoyed by the whole family.

STEPHEN SIMON co-founded www.Spiritualcinemacircle.com
and produced such Films As Somewhere In Time And What Dreams May Come. He also directed and produced both Conversations With God and Indigo and is the author of The Force Is With You: Mystical Movies Messages That Inspire Our Lives.

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