Charlie

The movie Charlie is centered on a vagabond/drifter character ‘Charlie’ who wants to be free as a bird and bring smiles to people’s faces. The discovery of wacky and strange stories of Charlie prompts the heroine (Tessa) to start a wild goose chase after him. Along the way, the movie introduces us to several intriguing characters and events.

I see cinema as a scripted dream. A dream conceived by a writer and then materialized by a team of artists and technicians. It is an orchestration of visuals and sounds illustrating a story. This visual treat resonates with the viewer in many ways. A seminal thought or spark that originates in the mind of a scribe thus metamorphosis into thousands of interpretations to its viewers in its journey.

To my mind as a viewer, the movie Charlie recalls one's desire to be free and set others free. However impractical it sounds, we all long to be free; free of our responsibilities, free of other’s expectations, free of the anxieties and uncertainties about the future. Charlie lives our dream and hence resonates well with the viewers.

The one scene in the movie that I particularly liked is towards the end. After repeated attempts, the heroine was finally successful to meet the man of her dreams and all she has to do is to reveal her identity. At that moment, she hesitates (my interpretation). She will try to step back and prefer to continue in her dreams. I am sure some of us have been in those situations. We preferred to stay in our dreams, rather, face the reality. We feared whether the reality of our dreams would disappoint us. We own our dreams and we have control over it.

Coming back to Charlie and the freedom he enjoys. I doubt whether freedom without discipline would liberate you. Like Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Laureate poet once said: “I have on my table a violin string. It is free. But it is not free to do what a violin string is supposed to do – to produce music. So I take it, fix it in my violin and tighten it until it is taut. Only then is it free to be a violin string.”

Great thought-provoking movie. It brought some of my old memories back. Hoping more of these genres of movies to follow.