A few days ago Justin and I watched "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." I had heard about it for awhile, and wanted to see if it was any good. It was. Very, Very Good. Like I'm crying throughout the movie because the pain and struggle are so real and close and alive. (I even say Justin tear up!) The movie is about a boy and his mother who are trying to move on after the father is killed on 9/11.
I was a sophomore when the towers fell. I remember that day at my small Christian school in Ohio. Classes stopped, and we all sat in the classroom watching the news coverage of the day. It was just unbelievable. It didn't feel real from a few states away. But it was real. A few years later I went to NYC and saw the giant hole in the ground myself. An empty spot in America, in the hearts of Americans.
"Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" brings the struggle with grief close to the viewer. I understand why it's rated PG-13, I guess, because it is able a traumatic event. But beyond that, the movie is so clean and really just deals with moving on after a tragedy. The boy finds a key in an envelope of his deceased father's closed with the name "Black" on it. Since his father frequently sent him on different searches, he is convinced that this is the next scavenger hunt that his father was never able to tell him about. The boy gets a phonebook for every burrow of New York City, and sets about the task of visiting everyone with the name of "Black" to see if they know anything about the lock that this key fits in. As you might guess, this exposes him to many different people and ultimately plays a role in the healing process, although in an unexpected way.
Everyone should see this movie. Especially to honor the dead and their families as 9/11 approaches again. We will never forget.
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