"Ordinary People" review

Today in abnormal psychology, we watched a movie called Ordinary People. It was made in 1980 and stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and, most importantly in my opinion, Timothy Hutton. I went into this movie thinking it was just going to be some stupid sappy movie about a family falling apart, but I was wrong.

Synopsis: The Jarretts are an upstanding and affluent family living in Chicago, who, on the outside, look like they are perfect. But inside the walls of their home, they're all slowly falling apart. The father, Calvin (Sutherland), is trying desperately to understand and get in the mind of his son Conrad (Hutton) who has just returned from a stay in a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill himself. Calvin is doing the best he can to get his son the help that he needs while trying to keep their family together. The mother, Beth (Moore) is distant, bitter, and has a hard time expressing love towards anyone but her older son, Buck, who drowned in a boating accident. She doesn't want to admit that there are problems in her family; she wants to make everyone think their life is perfect, including herself, husband, and son. The part of Conrad's psychiatrist is played by Judd Hirsch.

Honestly, I fell in love with this movie. I want to own it so I can watch it whenever I want. It seems to be a truly underrated movie, since no one I've talked to has heard of it. It won an Oscar for Best picture, and Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for best supporting actor, which he greatly deserved. His performance is quite possibly the best I've seen, ever. He plays the part of a teenager struggling to avoid his feelings of guilt, anger, fear and depression perfectly. There were a lot of really strong emotions in the movie that are handled with ease, and many scenes that brought me back to fights between my mom and dad [not a bad thing, it made it more realistic.]

The only thing I've ever seen Donald Sutherland in was when he was on that show, Commander in Chief, and he was a jerk, lol. He played such a sweet character that you felt so bad for him, as he tried so hard to both understand and get through to his remaining son while also trying to keep the peace between him and his wife. She is mad because she thinks he "indulges" Conrad when he goes after to him to make sure he's okay, or gets after him to eat or sleep or call his doctor. In reality, he's just trying to make sure their son doesn't try to kill himself again.

This was longer than I wanted it to be. Basically, great movie, everyone should watch it. If not to identify with the characters, because it is easy to identify with one of them, than to understand that this kind of stuff goes on everyday. I want to read the book now. :)