There are films destined to become true cults, if not universally, at least in our personal imagination. Maybe you don't notice, get out of the movies thinking you saw a nice movie, but nothing more. But then, some scenes come back to mind when you least expect it, you find yourself thinking randomly about the deep message of the film, which seems destined to you, yes to you, and you understand that movie has left its mark.
Here, "The Secret Dreams of Walter Mitty" has all the papers in order to enter my personal cult film. Category road movie, of course.
It's been a long time since, and seeing him again today was more than a confirmation. Yes, because the film with Ben Stiller in the dual role of protagonist and director, which I had already seen at the cinema a couple of months ago, has just come out in Digital HD, latest news in digital distribution, signed Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. So I didn't waste time, I downloaded it from Google Play (but it's also available in iTunes digital stores, Xbox Video, PlayStation Network, CuboVision and Chili TV) and easily seen on the train tablet as I went back from Bologna to Turin.
It was the first time I bought an online movie and I have to say that this evolution of video-noleggio is really convenient, so much more that it allows you to watch the chosen movie where and when you prefer, wanting also on smartphone or dcc, that for those who travel or is always on the move is a good advantage. To say, with a few clicks I practically replaced the monotonous panorama of the Po Valley that ran beyond the window with the magnificent Icelandic and Himalayan landscapes that form the background to Walter Mitty's adventure. If you've seen the movie, you know what I'm talking about.
Otherwise I only advance that it is the story of an irreducible dreamer, the Walter Mitty in question (name that in America is synonymous with those who dream open eyes, in fact), employed in the editorial staff of the legendary LIFE magazine in New York, where a quiet tran tran lives, spasiming for a cute colleague without having the courage to declare himself and enchanting from time to time in his proverbial open-eyed dreams in which he becomes unlikely hero of the next door. Until the end of the magazine is announced and our Mitty is forced to move on to the action to track the great photographer Sean O’Connel (played by good Sean Penn), on assignment in chisssà which corner of the planet, and discover the perfect photo for the cover of the last issue of the newspaper.
Mission practically impossible for one such as Mitty, but at that point it takes something and begins an exciting adventure around the world, from Iceland to the summits of the Himalayas, and I add nothing else. Know only that Mitty plunges into real life and... we viewers are beginning to dream. Compliments of the sudden change of roles are the great Icelandic landscapes that begin to flow on the screen, taken from a photo from scream and exalted by the HD.
And it is there, between boundless valleys and majestic waterfalls, which takes, uncontensible, the desire of Iceland. He wants to immerse himself completely in that pure nature, to be caressed by that powerful light as only to those latitudes can be, to try the ebbrezza to throw himself in longboard along the slopes of the Eyjafjallajökull, yes precisely the volcano with the name that in 2010 launched with an eruption I break it in the skies of half world. And as if it wasn’t enough, from Iceland the action then moves into the absolute wilderness of the Himalayas, among the views of the mythical roof of the world.
And this is where we have the definitive confirmation: this film is an instigation on the journey, to put into play, starting towards remote places in search of new realities and, at the bottom, also of ourselves. Having the courage to challenge the unknown, allowing itself to be inspired also by the famous motto of LIFE that encourages people to "...see things thousands of kilometers away, the hidden things behind the walls and inside rooms, dangerous things to reach... and then remain amazed. "
