Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

I found the opening very insightful and intriguing, about how we could build a land of the dead beneath the land of the living; skyscrapers underground (or should I say earthscrapers?) to house the dead. That kind of blew my mind a little coz I never thought of that, and I believe, gave us some perspective - the show was in reference to 9/11 and thinking of skyscrapers, you would think of the WTC.

The story focuses on a boy who had lost his father to 9/11. The boy seemed quite rude at times, but he has some anxiety issues, like being afraid of public spaces, afraid of sitting on swings, etc. The father tries to play games with him to get him to open up and they were very close. The movie shows how he goes in search of the lock to unlock when he finds a key he thought his father had left behind for him, but it was also a search for some kind of closure for him, trying to find his father again. It's very sad actually, because he was the one who heard his father's last words as he called home. But he froze. And he didn't tell anyone about it. I think it would have been very traumatising for any child to hear their father dying. He tortures himself by pinching himself till he bleeds. I understand that he hoped the physical pain will take away the pain inside his heart. The show was also when he finally became closer to his mother. It must have been really painful for her when he blurted out he wished she was the one who was gone instead of the father, but of course he regretted it.

I think the beauty of the show was the journey as he visited people the people, going by a last name he read on the key envelope. And how the mother actually went ahead of him to make it easier for him. And how finally the whole family came together eventually, even his estranged grandfather who returns and helps him in parts of the journey.