xc-COTD2

Harold & Maude is one of those movies that are witty, clever and serious. It’s also has a peculiar way of making viewers have different opinions on what the message of the movie was, and it’s also one of those films that has to be watched beginning to end, and carefully watched to get it. I first watched Harold & Maude last year when I had to watch and read different literatures on existentialism, which has been a great help in this death unit. When I watched it last year my conclusion of the movie was that it showed two different age periods in life, youth and elderly. The beginning of the movie started out with the protagonist Harold faking suicides and seemed very interested in death, a bit too interested more or less obsessed, causing me to believe that he was suicidal. He than later meets a woman named Maude, at a funeral. At first when Harold & Maude spent time together talking about people, cultures, dreams, questioning, basically talking about life. I thought Maude was a mentor to Harold; as the movie progressed you saw the transition in Harold’s behavior, he was more happy around her, and embraced death, almost as if he were the same age as her (79) and soon about to die as well. He turned the Porche his parents bought him for his birthday into a hearse. Harold’s family, a wealthy one wanted Harold to choose a career to follow, they’ve attempted to have him meet generals doctors, anything that was a bit high class they wanted him to do, but he always blew them away by doing something weird, like faking a suicide, his parents tried to get him a girlfriend (young attractive women) he also blew those off as well, and only instead wanted to hang out with Maude. Those were when the tell-tell signs that Harold was very interested in Maude we’re becoming obvious. Harold later on in the movie kisses Maude after talking by a pier, and seeing she was a holocaust survivor, and slept with her. Full of joy he asks her to marry him, and than she breaks out that she poisoned herself, Harold rushes her to the hospital, but it was too late Maude wanted to die for a long time because it was “her time”. Harold panics, causing viewers to believe he was going to kill himself you see him drive his Porsche hearse towards a cliff, and than the car crashes straight down a cliff to the bottom by the water, he appears on the cliff playing the banjo, wearing colors. That was significant because it showed how Harold, decided to throw his views of death away and enjoy his life while young and get old, until that day comes.

The message I got from the movie is that, no matter what old or young we’ll experience many things in life, and can learn from anyone whether old or young, a young person can remind an old person what their life was like when they were younger and older person can teach a young person, and tell them their ideas, and stories in their lives, causing them to appreciate, fear, understand, love, and whatever feelings or things they learn and use it in their lives, and try to accept what they have now, had yesterday, and will have in the future.