Harold & Maude

Harold and Maude...where do I even begin? First of all, when Joe said in class that the first twenty minutes or so you are going to be staring blankly and confused at the screen...he was right.  This was one of the first movies of the semester where I decided not to read any summaries, reviews, or anything in between before watching the film.  I wanted to go into the it with no knowledge of the film and with an open mind.  During the first twenty minutes I the movie opened with a young adult (Harold) committing suicide.  Then, Harold's mother walks in the room where Harold is hanging by a rope from his neck.  She shows very little emotion, basically she is bugged that Harold is playing these theatrical games again.  It was about twenty minutes into the film that we figured out Harold regularly attended funerals and regularly tried to kill himself (but not really).  Harold is a strange yet privileged young adult.  At one of the funerals he was at he stumbles upon another regular funeral goer--Maude.  The scene in the movie where one could describe Maude is when she steals Harold's hearse and asks him, with his car for a ride home.  Theses two characters are polar opposites.  I guess the saying "opposites attract" works perfectly for them.  Harold who is intrigued with death, and Maude who is intrigued with the beauty of life basically hit it off and become the best of companions.  Harold's mother is annoyed to the max, she has endured his strange theatrical suicide attempts for far to long.  So she decides that he needs to get married.  She sets him up with 3 different dates from a dating website. The first date was one of my favorite parts of the movie, you see the date and Harold's mom talking but you also see out the window Harold planning another suicide attempt.  The date sees "Harold" set on fire and runs around the house frantically, while Harold is right next to her.  The second date he chops off his hand with a meat cleaver...
I really enjoyed watching the character of Maude throughout the movie.  Her outlook on life gives you a happy feeling inside.  She uproots trees and plants them back in the forest.  She doesn't believe in attachments, but her house is filled with "incidental" belongings.  She "steals" any car she wants including a police officers motorcycle.  When she died by overdosing on her sleeping pills, on her 80th birthday I couldn't help but feel sad.  She said 75 is to young and 85 is to old so she is at peace with 80 and knows she will die when she turns 80.
This movies theme is "opposite feelings/attitudes.  These opposite outlooks on life make it seem like the world is a peaceful place.  When Harold drives his car off the cliff and you think he was dead but then they showed him at the top of the cliff with Maude's banjo.  He proceeded to dance away while playing the banjo.  This went along with the line earlier in the movie when Maude said, "Do you dance?"  These little connections are presented throughout the film and you couldn't help but smile.
By far the best part of the movie in my opinion was when Harold sees the number on Maude's forearm, which he then realizes she had a concentration camp experience. I did some research after the movie and the line she quoted was from Dreyfus, who was a French officer with Jewish background.  He spent time in the prison called Devil's Island. He said that he could see glorious birds from his window, though many years later he realized they were only seagulls.  After Maude stated that quote she said they will always be glorious birds.  She was in a prison just like Dreyfus was but her outlook on the beauty of life never changed, even when she got out of the concentration camps.  This was Maude's personality and attitude towards life.  She is by far my most favorite character from all the movies we have watched this semester.
Harold and Maude is now my favorite movie by far this semester.  Even though it starts slow and dark, in the end it is a great and warm-hearted film.  I would recommend it to anyone.