The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), dir. Ben Stiller: An Ode to Dreamers Everywhere
Written by Aradi G. Priyanto (HI 2020)
For people who are movie fans, there’s no doubt that we have that one movie that we’ve seen that stands out. I’m not talking about the BEST movie we’ve ever seen, it might not be. What I’m talking about are those movies that resonate with you the most, that perhaps give you comfort or have inspired you. Perhaps, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is one.
The movie just didn’t stand out at the cinemas, It’s one of those random movies that would be on TV a lot, sometime in the midday, when not many are watching. This is surprising considering the stars of the movie: starring and directing is Ben Stiller, with the considerable talent of fellow actor and comedian Kristen Wiig, Academy Award-Winners Shirley MacLaine and Sean Penn, along with major TV stars Adam Scott and Kathryn Hahn.
The story goes something like this: Walter Mitty, played by Stiller, is a negative assets manager for the legendary (in real-life too) Life Magazine. Having been on the job for decades now, every morning Walter gets up and takes the subway to work. Early on we find out that Walter has lived alone and has been diving into the world of online dating, however, he struggles to find anything interesting about his life and himself to use on his dating profile.
More importantly, Walter is prone to ‘zoning out, day-dreaming fake scenarios in his head. When he does ‘zone-out’ he imagines real-life scenarios he is facing but glorifies himself and his life in them. In real life, he actually is just staring into the abyss. However far-fetched his daydreams may be, at its core they represent who he wants to be and how he wants his life to be, but sadly, it also serves as an escape from who he, and how life, truly is.
However, big things are about to happen to Walter. That day, a takeover of Life Magazine is announced, and that the print magazine will be moved online for good. Head of the transition is Ted, a stylish corporate man — the handsome ‘cool’ type who belittles awkward people like Walter. Walter handles the negatives for the covers and is tasked by Ted to handle negative #25 which will be used for the cover of the final print issue.
#25 should be amongst the roll that legendary photojournalist Sean O’Connell, who Walter has worked with for decades but has never actually met. But to Walter’s surprise, #25 isn’t there, and he is under increasing pressure from Ted to find it in time for the final print. In trying to find Sean, who is a nomadic ‘adventurer’ with no set address or phone number, Walter gets the chance to get close with Cheryl, who works at photographic account and whose help he needs to find Sean and #25 in time.
From then on, for me, the magic of the movie begins to appear. Under pressure and without anything to lose, Walter decides to embark on a journey to try and find Sean, using the other negatives he found from the roll that Sean sent him. He asks Cheryl to help him out in the journey, as they bond closer and closer. He gets inspiration from his late father, who wanted him to travel the world with him.
With help from Cheryl, Walter, who before has never gone abroad before, heads off on his journey to find Sean. On the way, he meets interesting characters, jumps off a helicopter into shark-infested waters, barely escapes a volcanic eruption in Iceland, bribes scary warlords with cake in Afghanistan, oh and also climbs the Himalayan mountains.
It seems for many; this point is where the movie actually LOSES its magic. Many say that the scenes where Walter finally gets out of his comfort zone and travels to –what for him was–the unknown, as it plays out like more of a ‘TV advertisement’ for those kinds of ‘self re-birth’ everyone dreams of but very few actually end up being able to live. Many point to the indie-rock soundtrack and beauty shots (however well-shot they were) being too dreamy and fantastical, losing the movies’ plot and message.
Look a little closer, and you can see, however, that why this movie, which is at best average and at worse a complete flop, would attract a somewhat cult following since it was first released. Whilst yes, if you put it all together the movie doesn’t hold up, there are plenty of scenes that manage to awe. These scenes are usually the montages where Walter steps out of his comfort zone and actually does what he dreams of, with some scenes combining his daydreams with reality in what are the most inspiring scenes.
These scenes combine stunning visuals of the locations and the movie’s awesome soundtrack, as well as the premise of Walter’s daydreams, to bring a real sense of how it feels to actually, for once, leave everything behind and try to do what you want and become who you want — a rare feeling we do not experience often enough.
When Walter first decides to brave himself and head to Greenland, following up on a clue found on one of Sean’s negatives, it is to the backdrop of Arcade Fire’s Wake Up, a powerful indie-rock anthem if there was ever one. Wake Up fit the mood perfectly — Walter himself was having an awakening, that he could actually live his daydreams burst the bubbles of dreams that have kept him occupied for so long.
The main scene that never fails to inspire is when he is in Greenland. Combining fantasy and reality, Walter imagines Cheryl being at this bar, singing David Bowie’s Space Oddity to try and get him to ride along with a drunken helicopter pilot to get to a boat Sean supposedly was on. In a rare moment, he acts upon his imagination and at the last minute, runs up and jumps into the helicopter close to taking off. He only realizes later that Cheryl was nowhere to be seen and that it is in fact reality, he did jump onto a helicopter.
These scenes really capture the greatness of this movie. First of all, the songs chosen manages to enhance the already stunning backdrops (captured by brilliant cinematography) to every scene, giving us a complete audiovisual experience. Most importantly, both the audio and visuals enhance the emotions in the scene, emotions which we all yearn for: a sense of adventure and freedom but also inside, Walter’s feeling of new-found self-control.
Don’t be fooled however, this movie is not just full of dreamy scenes that deserve to be, well, in a movie. Every now and again, Walter’s journey takes him closer to himself and behind the grandeur and spectacle of the globe-trotting Walter does, the movie really tries to get us to appreciate ourselves, and the smaller things in life more, finding happiness in that.
When Walter meets Cheryl’s son, Walter amazes him with skateboard tricks that only pros would do. At first, we think that it is another one of Walter’s daydreams. Turns out, Walter was in fact a champion skateboarder when he was young. Whilst a minor scene, this scene is to remind us that Walter’s life, and our lives, is actually interesting and full of amazing experiences to other people, even whilst they might feel mundane and boring to us.
In the end, it turns out negative #25 had been with Walter all along, back in New York. The negative, billed by Sean as the ‘quintessence of life’, for the last ever print cover, is actually a picture of Walter, simply doing his job at the office. The last cover was dedicated to all those who made it. It is again an ode to the simple things in life, a reminder that perhaps Walter doesn’t have to dream, or travel the world to be who he wants to be, what he does every day, being himself, is already good enough, and should be good enough for him.
Whilst one might ask, “Is the message lost if he had to go around the world to figure that simple message of self-love out?”, the answer is no. The movie resonates with people because all of us are naturally dreamers, always looking for the bigger and better in life, when actually, what we REALLY are looking for is around us. The movie successfully appeases dreamers, giving Walter the journey of a lifetime we all imagine we’d go on, giving us plenty of memorable views along the way.
Through its story, cinematography, and soundtrack, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty appeals to the inner dreamer in us. I doubt not many came out watching this not wanting to go leave the 9-to-5 and travel the world. But it also counters it with a message that what we crave and dream of might be closer to home than we think. Whether one message is over the top and overrides the other is, at the end of the day, irrelevant.
The hallmarks of a great movie should be how much it resonates with you, taps something a feeling close to home, whilst still making you wonder and inspires you. At moments, the movie taps into all our inner dreamers, but with a message rooted in reality.