Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hello everybody and welcome back. It is once again me your favorite deputy of movie Deputy podcast. Wow, what a thing. What a story. We just wrapped up with the Matrix. I'm curious. It's like, have you ever been sucked into think that we're living in a simulation or is it just a movie? Hmm. That's a deeper question. We'll have to get into more at a later date on that, but today I'm actually gonna change things up a little bit. Unfortunately, it's a little bit of a kind of a sad movie, but it's also a powerful movie. It's a movie on Netflix called A Man called Otto. It is a Tom Hanks movie. A lot of people love it, a lot of people hate it, and there's a lot of reasonings for both. And I'm gonna try to touch on a lot of those here for you.
Speaker 0 00:00:43 If you've never heard of it, this movie came out in 2022. It did come out direct to Netflix, and it's gotten like a lot of positive and negative feedback throughout it's initial release. And even still now, there's still deep discussions about this movie. Now you may be wondering why. Well, that's what I'm gonna get into with you here. I do wanna let you know right up front, even with some of the topics I'm gonna be talking about, I did give a man called Otto, a seven out of 10 on the deputy scale. I also rated it guilty. This is another movie that deals with very deep topics, including suicide. Please forgive the ruckus you hear in the background. That is just two of my boys arguing with each other. <laugh>, it's fun when you have five cats and then they decide when they wanna get along and when they don't.
Speaker 0 00:01:30 But the other really controversial topic that is covered in this one, and mind you, it is a Netflix movie, so this will not take you by surprise, but there is a transgender character in this movie, and like I said, so that's gonna make some people uncomfortable. It's not a major character in the movie, but it, it, I don't know, the movie was going along just fine without adding that bit of wokeness into it. I know, I mean, the whole thing with quote unquote representation, but I mean, that's a whole different argument and everything on that just e easy, it's easy to say that this is kind of, it's it a leftist movie as a whole, but there, there's much more to the story than just that. So I don't you to judge it just on that. So bear with me till the end if you would.
Speaker 0 00:02:13 I really, it's a, I think it's an important, important message to share with Otto in his younger years. Now, nowadays, somebody like him would be called on the spectrum, or prob probably on the autism spectrum because things had to be done a certain way and he was very precise in how he did things and even how he talked to people. There was once upon a once upon a time, and not in the whole fairytale form, but when people like that were not thought of as being intelligent or not thought of as being, just thought of as being weird. And it's really unfortunate that so many of these people who were on the spectrum back then were misdiagnosed and just really didn't fit in. And so he was kind of that way and the only person he had in his life was his dad. Well then his dad died and he was just
Speaker 1 00:02:58 Lost. Don't worry, you know me. No spoilers. But then he meets this young woman and he meets her on the train and they just, they just hit it off. She, she liked something about him. He liked something about her. There, there becomes, uh, an item that end up bringing the two of them back together and kind of, um, traditional Hollywood way of sorts. It's been done in other movies, but I won't give that away. So they, they begin a life together and they get married and they're, everything is going great and they are actually expecting a baby. And then something unfortunately tragic happens that changes her life forever. And, and, and kind of the whole thing. It changes both of their lives because when you're really connect with somebody, when something happens to one of 'em, it happens to both of you. And I've experienced that myself even, it's like, I'm disabled and I was a lot more mobile when my husband first met me.
Speaker 1 00:03:48 And so he's had to endure the things that I've experienced as well. So it's just, I kind of related with that part of the story a little bit, but as time goes on this tragedy, it makes things difficult. And so you think the story might just be just about them, but that it's not, it's really not. They actually live in this little community that is, it's a, like a private driveway. There's not even like delivery vehicles allowed to go up and around this road because it's so private. It's just for residents only. And Otto has become almost like a neighborhood watch person and he makes sure that everybody follows the rules and he knows the neighbors and he makes sure the neighbors follow the rules. And remember I told you he was a little bit particular in how things are done. That's not just in his own humps, but it's in this neighborhood.
Speaker 1 00:04:33 And even those that he's become close friends with, there ends up being kind of a little bit of a thing going on. Just, I, I can't say over what the matter is because it'd be a pretty big spoiler, but let's just say it definitely fits his personality as to what it ends up being that kind of drives them apart. But after everything is said and done, when he loses his wife, he just, he doesn't know what to do anymore. And unfortunately a lot of the movie is him contemplating on how he's gonna kill himself and just by sheer chance neighbors, just some of the people that he's known randomly just interact with him and it keeps pushing the can further down the road. And then he ends up helping one of the neighbors through some issues with their family. Like I said, there, there's so much going on at this movie 'cause you have his relationship with his neighborhood who he feels very close to and he feels like it's his responsibility to oversee it all.
Speaker 1 00:05:27 And then you have this development company that's trying to come in and trying to make him look like less than a person so that they can try to take the land out from underneath of him, adding insult to injury. And of course, remember it's a Netflix movie, but this development is called Die America Development. Well, what does that sound like? And then you have like the neighbors and the friends and all of this. And then you have his struggle that he's dealing with. 'cause it feels like he doesn't have anybody left. And it's just, it goes a lot of different directions with this. Like I said, the thing it kind of of gets into before his wife passes away, she's actually a teacher and she connects with a transgender student in her classroom. And he, this transgender student, Malcolm, comes over and ends up being one of the reasons that Otto doesn't take his own life.
Speaker 1 00:06:11 Like I said, it just, it keeps coming back all around. No matter how many parts of the story there is, it always comes back to suicide. And it's just so sad that that's the focus of a story like this because it had, I don't know, it's sad, but it's almost poignant. I mean, it's kind of the point of the movie, but it's like, did they have to go that direction with it? I know that was the whole point of it, but it was the same time. It's just like, what's the point? But, but looking at it deeper is, there's such a deep point to it. Yeah. Can I say point anymore within like a minute of the showtime here, <laugh>, sometimes my brain just goes <laugh>, so I apologize about that. But I think one of the quotes that totally captures Otto in this movie is he's told by somebody close to him that you're really bad at dying <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:06:57 And that's probably one of the nicest things that somebody could say to him in this movie. Ultimately, he ends up finding that he's not alone in life. And don't worry, that's not a spoiler, but how that happens is something to experience. If you've got Netflix and you like a touching movie, this, this is gonna be one that you might wanna check out. But like I said, just be aware that it does have those topics that are very polarizing about suicide and about the transgender. The transgender character doesn't come in until the last, like third of the movie. And so it's, so, it's not the focus of the movie at all. But like I said, they had to, they had to put it in their, I don't know why, but they felt they had to in the credits. It does say for wolfie, I am assuming it's in memory of a dog or an animal in somebody's life, that's all it says is for wolfie.
Speaker 1 00:07:43 But I like to acknowledge that in memory of a loving memory of, or the fours or whoever the movie is dedicated towards. So I hope you've enjoyed this, uh, kind of strange journey through the story of a man called Otto. If you're a fan of Tom Hanks, this is a little bit of his different work than stuff you've seen him in in the past. But ultimately, like I said, I did give this a seven outta 10 on the deputy scale, which is memorable with questionable content. And obviously it definitely fits that. So ultimately, another one of those words, I'm just gonna keep saying it over and over again, <laugh>. But if you have enjoyed this review of a man called Otto, if you've enjoyed our last couple series, oh God, I'm starting to sound like p b s No, um, <inaudible>, what I'm, what I'm trying to say is if you like the content here, like subscribe and share and I will of course be back tomorrow to bring you another movie. Till then, bye-bye.
