Catch Me If You Can (Review)-Running away from the reality

     The best movies achieve a link between reality and fiction that feels effortlessly harmonious, and at some point you find yourself absorbed into the fictitious reality. In that regard, the movie “Catch me if you can”, is slightly of the main road, for it portrays a life of forgery. 

     Stared by Leonardo DiCaprio, Frank Abagnale Jr. is a normal sixteen year old. His life starts to change when Abagnale Sr. is investigated by the IRS and fails in his his business. Their family moves to a smaller house, selling their house, furniture, and their cadillac in the process. From then, Frank’s mother starts smoking and one day is found with another man in the house. And than, they divorce, with Frank under the care of his father. Obviously, that is when the plot starts to change. 

     Frank Abagnale Jr., who is frustrated by the deterioration of his family that followed his father’s financial failure, runs away. Most teenage runaways tend to return home sooner or later, and when they do, they tend to be very hungry and poor. Frank, however, had his ways in earning money. Check forgery. I won’t go on to describing the ways that he managed to fool the banks but it really is simple, but brilliant within. Through tricks that just makes you gawk at the scene, he manages to gather more than two million dollars. What really makes this movie valuable in itself, though, is the portrayal of the losses that Frank experiences in the process. 

     Carl Hanratty, starred by Tom Hanks, is the FBI agent who goes after Frank. Although the continues to fail to catch Frank, he is able to find out who Frank really is, a hurt teenager on the run. On Christmas day Frank calls Carl and starts to apologize for making a fool of Carl. However, Carl responds by saying, “you didn’t call to apologize, you called because you have no one else to call.” It was right, and it is right for many of the people living today, at this moment. Under the layer of humor and materialism, many people feel loneliness--well I do at times. That one phrase dominated my thoughts, and the comedy and humor in the movie wasn’t quite enough to dilute the sadness of reality. 

     The movie, “Catch me if you can”, is categorized as a comedy film--it really is funny for most of the time, I can guarantee that. Only difference that makes it slightly of the road is the frank portrayal of reality--and now that I come to think of it the name Frank, although it is a coincidence, itself has another meaning to it. It makes you absorbed into a reality about a fictitious life and the emptiness of it. The movie was very enjoyable overall, it was bittersweet. 

     The theme of materialism and the loneliness of leading a fictitious life made me think of “The Great Gatsby”. It is about a man who lives a fake life for his love that he met as a teenager. Like Frank in, “Catch me if you can,” Gatsby also looks away from the reality and faces the emptiness and meaninglessness in the life he is leading. The Great Gatsby lacks the comical taste in Franks story, but rather, it portrays the reality in a much more bitter way. Both, the Great Gatsby and Catch me if you can, are great pieces of art that you should really read or watch someday. Hope you can feel some of the things that I felt as I watched the movie and hope that you didn’t read this cause you had nothing else to read.