Swiss Army Man film review

     

    Swiss Army Man was probably one of the most interesting films I've seen. It starts out with a man, Hank, who is stranded on an island. Hank was about to end his life when a man appears on the beach, looking quite dead. Upon further examination, the dead man appears to be alive because he is farting. Now we all know that was just from his body starting to decompose and get rid of gas, but Hank refused to believe that and decided to give the man a try. He soon found out that the dead man could be a way of transportation because of his gases being so aggressive. One day they are sitting in a cage, and the dead man blurted out some words defying all odds. It is then when Hank decides to name the man Manny, and the two become friends. Manny is not able to move around very gracefully on his own so Hank has to do all the heavy lifting for him. Manny also asks many questions because it seems as though he doesn't remember anything from the life he had formally. On their journey back to civilization, Manny sees Hank's lock screen with a very pretty woman on it, and Manny becomes obsessed. Manny's only reason for going back to society now is to meet this woman and fall in love with her, but Hank keeps the secret of the fact that she was his love interest first. The two create many different scenes and practically a whole life together in the woods to prepare Manny for the woman, and just to cure their boredom. Eventually they make their way out of the woods and find Sarah's home, which is when Hank drops the news on Manny that Sarah is actually the one that he loves, and that Manny cannot have her. It is then when we learn that Sarah already has a husband and a family of her own. Sarah's daughter finds the men out in their yard and when she tells her mom, they call the police. Manny is so hurt by the news of Sarah not being available that he dies again, seemingly for real this time. Hank tries to tell the EMTs that he is alive, but when they don't believe him, Hank takes many and runs away really fast. On their way back through the forest, everyone, including Sarah, sees all of the props and scenes the two made and gets very freaked out. Hank tries to prove to everyone that manny is alive, and much to everyones surprise, Manny starts farting again and goes off into the distance on water, just like he did at the beginning of the movie. 

    I think that is movie is a bit of an acquired taste for many people. The plot of the movie was a very interesting choice and I honestly am a little surprised that it was green-lit to be made. When you take a step back and really think about the plot of the movie it really makes you think. However, even though it is a bit of a goofy movie, there are some things throughout that make you think. The first thing is just what Manny represents. It is obviously a bit far fetched for a man that was dead to just come back to life and be able to experience emotions and move around like he has super powers, so there has to be something else there. Manny appeared at a time when Hank really needed him, and he also left at the end of the movie which made me wonder if he was going off to help someone else. Manny made Hank think about many things that he hadn't before with all his questions, and allowed emotions to surface that probably otherwise wouldn't have. The conversation that they had about Hank's dad making him feel bad about masturbating was something that Hank hadn't thought about in a long time, but Manny brought up these memories for Hank and I think it helped him become more true to himself. At the end of the movie, when Hank was bad in society and Manny had once again come back to life, it seemed as though he could have been going off to help someone new. There is no for sure tell that that's what was happening, but because of the way this movie went, that could have easily been the case. 

    The goofiness of this movie is something I really enjoyed. It is obvious that not of anything that happened with Manny could really ever happen, but things like his super powers and ignorance to everything made it an entertaining watch. Something that really intrigued me was how Manny somehow had crazy strength and super human like abilities. The first thing that we find out he is able to do is supply water for Hank. While it was really disgusting and a little hard to watch, I found it really interesting. There was a whole scene with Manny smashing things, being super strong, and being able to shoot rocks out of his mouth. I found this a little ironic because the once dead man, is the one that is keeping Hank alive. Without Manny, Hank would probably not have made it as long as he did. 

    While this movie was pretty goofy, it still had a sense of seriousness that I thought was included perfectly. There were times when we as the audience laughed, and other times where it was more somber and I thought it made the movie even better. I think that there were a few lessons taught throughout but there were also many things left up to interpretation which I really enjoyed.