Where The Wild Things Are

I actually saw this movie a few weeks ago, but it was just too hard for me to comment on it at the time. It's a beautiful children's movie that addresses the real effects of relationships on young people and what it's like for a young person or child to feel hurt or betrayed by a person that they love and depend on.

The main character, Max, is dealing with feelings that stem from his mother's new dating life and his sister's growing distance due to adolescence. His culminated reaction to the situation causes him to run away to a fantasy island where he meets the Wild Things. Max develops intimate friendships with the Wild Things and when he disappoints them, they have a similar reaction to the one Max had towards his family.

This movie is a deep and fantastical equivalent to watching a child yell at and hit her dolls in much the same way that she experienced what may have done to her, her sibling or parent. There is no father figure in the film for Max; his mother has a boyfriend that does not seem to be involved in his or his sister's lives. His father may have passed or left the family. It then seems logical to infer that the behavior exemplified by Max when he runs away was "learned" from his father "running away" from Maxs family.

This movie was especially hard to watch because it was difficult to come to terms with the fact that a boy so young understands the deeply felt anger and disappointment that would come from being hurt by someone he loves. It is normal for an adult to have to come to terms with pain, disappointment, resentment, and abandonment. However, knowing that a young child has to try not only to understand and come to terms with these feelings, but then to forgive and move on so that he may live freely, without being hampered.

Director Spike Jonze's choice to use the fantasy world of the child to present this issue was even more poignant because the association with a fantasy world usually allows a person to escape from painful realities, not explore them more deeply.

Beautiful film; very deeply felt.