Note on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Cinema in itself has a great way of making you feel all the feels.

I am not as big of a cinema buff or a proclaimed “can give you suggestions on what you have to watch” person (although I do force down a few watches to people who I know will enjoy them or people who respect and consider the suggestion of mine worthy of their time). I think if you’ve not seen The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, give it a watch!

I mean, it is a simple, no-noise film. I say no noise, simply because you'd know if you’ve seen other Ben Stiller movies. I remember I was in a rut almost two years ago, and I had asked Twitter about a movie that changed the way they see the world and look at things, or at least a movie that would make you feel nice, warm, and happy. A friend left this movie in the comments and for the longest time, I wanted to download it and watch it but never saw, cuz well, life happened and I had a lot of other things to look forward to.

Today I had a chance to watch it and let me tell you, as an adult (proclaimed by society, not me), it is some movie. And I also feel that a lot of the folks I know would relate to it too, not because of the Iceland and Afghanistan views ( for sure why not), but also because a lot of us lead a life similar to Walter in more ways than one.

We all want to do something else, but very rarely I have come across a person who wanted to do X and has pursued that and been happy. I understand, there are a lot of and, even that is an and but forgive me, using Thinkdeli as my brain dump pad for now. But coming back to the point, we all lead our lives, in comfort, in our closed shells, in an environment that we might not want if situations were different but we have made ideas so that we can coast through this journey called life.

But is coasting through life all that you are made for? I feel conflicted when I am asked this question because for the longest time, I have always wanted to coast through life for the comfort it gives my mind. It eases any anxious thoughts and gives me a sense of boundaries to operate in.  On the other hand though, if you never explore and get out of your comfort zone you’d never know what more life could have been yeah?!

That’s what this movie is about. I won’t give away any spoilers because I think I want it to be a journey for one and all this movie, you’re sure to take different lessons from the movie, that’s the point any film is made I personally feel so. All I can say is, Ben Stiller took a chance in the movie, and not that the chance came easy and it was all rosy and fun, but in the end, when you were able to look back at it all, it made sense, it was worth it wasn’t it?

And I guess that’s what the movie says, the essence of life is in what you make of it. Rest is just passing clouds (IMO) and you gotta, like Dory in Finding Nemo says, keep swimming!

Leaving you with a wonderful quote from the movie that was just 🤌