Review of Swiss Army Man (2016) by Arjun K — 19 Jul 2016

Swiss army man proves a lot of things. It proves that vulgarity can be accepted in a movie , if the vulgar elements contain meaningful symbolism. It proves that two genres that do not seem to have anything in common can have elements that cooperate with each other and create a better experience. It proves that children are not necessary for creating the perfect child character.

Vulgarity has been seen as a negative in film. This is because filmmakers only use the tool as a a cheap way to engage the audience with other context. A lot of film depend solely on the the element to hopefully entertain the audience Films like Wetlands try to justify the Vulgarity by making the characters vulgar, but they can not escape from being just a generic comedy. Swiss Army Man ,however, uses vulgarity elements not just to create humor but also to move the plot or tell about the characters. For example, Manny , the Swiss Army Man played by Danial Radcliff , asked Hank , played by Paul Dano, about why he can't masturbate or fart when people are around even though it make people happy. Frank replies"you just can't". Manny then response "then why bother going back ? ". This conversation has context. It is not only a funny question ,but it is also a looks at how society shames people for acts that are natural. The movie shows Hank and Manny experience the best on life has to offer in the wilderness, so why bother going back?

This is a survival film, and survival film often associate with long grim struggles, gore, and sight of death in front the main characters face. How to combine that with a romantic comedy? First ask the question: "how does a person survive in the wilderness in the funniest way possible? The answer is a Swiss Army Man. A Swiss Army Man is a part human, part water container, part gas container, and many more. The funny part is how to use him. In order to get gas the Swiss Army Man has to point his butt to the wherever to gas needs to go and fart really hard. It not only hilarious to achieve the comedy elements , but its usefulness makes a key to the survival elements of this movie. What about the romantic part? Manny does not remember anything before meeting Hank, until he sees a picture of a woman named Sarah. Hank tries help him by recreating the day that they met. Hank even dress up like Sarah and role plays as Sarah just to help him remember. This scenario makes Hank talk about his life in the city and how he struggled to talk to the woman he is in love with. Hank realizes that Manny is also shy as he is ,so he puts all his efforts on trying to get Manny to talk to an imaginary woman. The movie turns into full romantic comedy for thirty minutes.

The reason why this works is because of Manny's child like personally. Manny does not know anything about the world. James Portnow said that children are like adults but with little experience. They can do anything an adult could, but they don't have the thousands of hours to draw on. This fits Manny perfectly because many can do amazing things, but he does not have the experience on how to do these things. Since Hank so much more experience then Manny, he teaches him about how to use Manny's Swiss Army abilities effectively and the meaning of life. Manny asked so many questions about life just like child , and Hank tries to answer and explain it all just like a father. Every time , however, Hank answers a question, Manny has ten more questions . The film's climax has Hank tires to explain very dark themes such as death, lies and suicide. It is very powerful relationship that keeps the film from going stale.