ORDINARY PEOPLE

I saw the 1980 film on UTV World Movies yesterday.In these times of academic pressure it's often difficult to unwind by watching a film,certainly not as regularly as you want to.I have a class test tomorrow but i decided to watch 'Ordinary People'anyway.
It was a good decision.It 's because of films like ordinary people that i watch films.The film is about a well off family having to cope with the loss of the eldest son in a drowning.The film centers on three members on the family-Calvin Jarrett(the father),Beth Jarrett(the mother) and Conrad Jarrett(the younger son).
The initial focus of the film is on Conrad.He was with his brother Buck when he died.He blames himself for not holding onto Buck;soon after his brother's death he tries to committ suicide.He survives and goes to a psychiatric hospital.The film starts a year after his return from there.
He cant get over his demons and consults a psychiatrist.This meeting would turn out to be a turning point for him.
Conrad Jarrett is not the only one who cannot get over the loss.His parents are coping with it their own way.
Conrad's mother is one of those persons who believe that the outward demeanor matters a lot, if not everything.She's a person who suffers the loss of her son; she does not manifest it in grief but in other ways.She does not get along with her younger son;Buck was a favourite of hers;Conrad's attempts at making a serious conversation are met with a metaphorical blank stare.She dismisses Conrad as provocative and tells her husband not to indulge him.She is not one of those manipulative people either.She frequently changes the topic if she comes across anything uncomfortable.Towards the end of the film one frequent plea of her will be that she is who she is and she cannot change.sshe says she cannot take any more pressure.thus she is damaged in her own way.
Conrad's father goes through the same amount of change as Conrad.A person who is considered to have a passive tempermant by both his son and wife,he tries to set things right for them but while doing so discovers uncomfortable truths .Thinking can be a painful process.
Like conrad's psychiatrist Dr.Berger says,''just because you feel something don't expect it to tickle.''
The film is about people's attempts to face their problems in a direct manner even when they are not in the best state of mind and still cannot quite get over the fear that nothing can be changed.The film is also about the people who would not even start to think so directly.Talking can provide a reilef.But it's not a smooth ride for anyone.The film also talks about something not often heard-sometimes it isn't really anyone's fault.
The director of the film does a masterful job of showing the characters as they are and stays with that depiction till the end;he uses flashbacks qute well.The most dramatic scenes are between conrad and Dr.Berger but the gradually developing confrontations between the husband and wife packs a punch.At no time is there any room for sterotype,though admitedly the moment when berger tells conrad that he is his friend made me cringe a bit.But all in all it's a worthwhile experience.