I
like to watch
The people are always looking for something hidden, for
some depth. In almost every, even the most banal, film particularly all
critics, professional and amateur alike (me included), would try to find the
double meaning or some depth. The high society is also plagued by this «disease».
How many stories we have, read, or heard about con artists, who pretended that
they are the prophets, miracle-makers or some experts.
The life of Chance the Gardener was spent in a rich Washington
house. The proprietor supplied Chance with TV sets, allowed him to wear
expensive clothes; the maid made meals for him. Chance is illiterate and his
only source of information is the TV. But the one day proprietor dies and
Chance is thrown on the street. By a will of destiny, Chance (or how he later
misspelled himself Chauncey Gardiner) got in the house of a rich, powerful and
ailing financier Benjamin Rand. The financier and his wife are thinking that
short wordiness of Chauncey is intelligence; his words about gardening are depicted
as a smart economical metaphor, even the President of the United States starts
quoting his «advices»…
I think that the authors of the film made Chance the
Gardener as an ironic depiction of the modern society inhabitants. The TV is
the only source of knowledge for Chance; he never hold a book or pen in his
life. His naiveté and intellectual lightness makes him an ideal hero for TV
audiences. Despite all of that, he stayed a kind man with an absolutely clean
soul. After watching «Being there», you will understand the basis for «Rain Man»
and Forrest Gump.
The film was made in 1979 – the final year of the
decade of «scandals and investigations» (Watergate, Operation Condor, Operation
CHAOS and etc.). The authors could not notice the main trait of the 1970s.
Since the moment, when Chance enters the high society, everybody thinks that he’s
a spy, secret billionaire, economic prodigy. His past is investigated by the
law enforcement, intelligence, journalists and foreigners.
From other point of view, the film depicts normality
in the most unusual sense of this word. Chance the Gardener stays himself
everywhere, even in the high society. While everyone is chasing the money,
power or tries to find something on Chance; he still cares about trees and
gardens. Chance truly loves his benefactors and neither thinks or commits evil.
He is the only who doesn’t chase the phantom values; he find joy in simple
things.
I have found this film by the means of a surprise and it did not disappoint
me. «Being there» is a clever and multi-layered film, which still keeps it’s
originality.
9/10
