Who isn't crazy?

Sometimes I have come to wonder what it would be like if we lived in a state of constant mindfulness around others. Acknowledging the negative parts of our lives, choosing to live each moment appreciating and enjoying all the good things that we have around us. Perhaps, just like Elwood, disregard the negative things that people do around us and focus in accepting that we are the same. Some would probably call you hippie, idiot, or simply crazy. In my opinion, the 1590s' film classic Harvey, by Henry Koster, invites us to take at look at ourselves to realize that perhaps there is a crazy side in all of us.

First of all, I have to recognize that I had serous doubts about the quality of this film. I could picture a meaningful story that included an imaginary six and a half feet rabbit. Nevertheless, the end of the film I realize the importance of the rabbit as a comedic device and also as part of the tools that the filmmaker uses to get his point across.

Dowd Elwood appears to be one of the kindest and well intentioned characters I have ever seen on screen; however, that does not stop others from calling him crazy and trying to put him in a mental clinic. Even though Elwood does not harm anyone, or even himself, his sister and people around him call him crazy just because he talked to an "imaginary rabbit" named Harvey. All the people that Elwood intended to introduce to Harvey thought, not without fair assumptions, that he was crazy.

At first, I thought that Elwood was crazy and that he needed some help, but after I see the way people act around him when he is brought to the sanatorium I began to wonder who was really crazy. Elwood? who lived each moment of his life in peace, kindness and passion, or the other characters of the film who are not able to see the great things they have in their lives. Elwood's family seems obsessed with the glamorous nights and celebrations, but are not able to truly relate to others in a more sincere way as Elwood does. The doctor and the nurse fail to recognize the love they feel for each other and for no particular reason fail to express what they feel for each other without the help of Elwood. Even Mr. Williams, who completely hates Elwood comes as across as even crazier than all the other characters. Williams is not only violent, but also seems to enjoy the suffering of other people. In contradiction with what we expect from a crazy person, Elwood brings everyone together by the end of the film.

Although the film does show parts where Harvey is real, such as the scene where the doctor's door office and the gate of the sanatorium open, I think that more important than considering whether Harvey was real or not, is that we might all agave the ability to look at the positive side of life, and be able to accept others without becoming a victim of prejudicing.