Review of The Pawnbroker (1965) by Benjamin L — 28 Aug 2007

This movie I saw at a time when I severly depressed and although it is an extremely depressing movie, it really makes you see what Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, what kind of behavior it can build up in and is very accurate.

There were parts of this movie where the music just went nuts, and it felt right because the main character, The Pawnbroker was losing his mind while a lot of people, well, that kid who worked for him was gonna rob his store and the scene I remember most, is when he shows up to that flat in New York to that woman he talked to on the bench, he didn't know why he was there, he just had to go somewhere and that's an emotion that is very general, but to this degree, as portrayed in the movie, really sets the tone of what being the only one in a happy family in Europe to survive the Holocaust.

I recommend seeing it, the ending is very suicidal, but you'll see just how, if you have the ability of compassion, how horrible it is not to have anyone or anything, like we do nowadays, to talk to about problems that have been plaguing you for decades and this is one he doesn't know he has, but as you watch the movie he starts to have this american beauty-esque awakening and can cry again.

When you know you can't cry anymore, that's when you have a serious problem because throughout this movie, you see a stern, strict, very bitter person crumble up and just reveal this ocean of sadness that has been within him since he saw his whole family subtley leave him, forever.

I think about this movie a lot and it haunts me in a way that makes me want to talk about my problems, and be annoying rather than having them build up into the behavior that Edward Lewis Wallant described in the book this movie is based on.

See it and you might see what I'm saying.