Swiss Army Man Review

 

Swiss Army Man, directed by Daniel Sheinert and Daniel Kwan is a film detailing the life of a man, Hank, stranded on an island who was battling with mental illness. Hank was on the island ready to take his own life but was inspired by a mysterious man who washed ashore. The man played by Daniel Radcliffe was named Manny and was very far from normal. Manny was depicted as a corpse but had powers that made him extremely special and beneficial to Manny who was struggling in the wild. Manny had powers like being able to spit up clean drinking water, fart so powerfully to be used as a jet ski in the water, break logs, start fire, and shoot things out of his mouth. It sounds crazy but the movie runs with the idea so well creating a masterpiece filled with themes of self growth, reliving trauma and finding oneself. Manny and Hank continues to adventure and worked to escape while growing closer every second they were together. The two eventually found civilization and it happened to the the house of a women that Hank had been secretly in love with but never mustered up the confidence to talk to her. Its a wild unfolding of events at the end of the movie where Manny is deemed officially dead and Hank is trying to explain to all the police, bystanders and his father that Manny is the reason he's alive. When no one belives him Hank takes Manny's body out of a body bag and drags him to the water and begs him to wake back up. Manny woke up and rode away into the ocean with his farts to never be seen again.

My favorite theme of the film is the theme of self growth and acceptance of yourself. Hank's life was slowly detailed throughout the film and it showed how his life seemed empty and as a person he seemed lost within himself. There is clips of him sitting on the bus headphones in and his hair slighly draped over one of his eyes. He was huddled by a window seat sitting alone with almost no expression at all. Turn to when he’s on the island and meets manny his mood instantly changed. The image above is a great example of the start of his self growth journey, we see Hank smiling genuinely for the first time, this could be that he has hope of rescue but their relationship only continued to grow.

The image above is another great moment between Hank and Manny. Hank throughout the film opened up to Manny and shared moments in his life where he felt hopeless, one being his experience on the bus when he was to shy to talk to his crush that he saw everyday on the bus. Hank works with Manny to try and improve his skills with talking to girls by playing a girl and they practice interactions. This was a very fun and playful moment that ended in a night full of partying, but this is also a moment where Hank truly was being himself and he felt accepted in this space.

Another aspect of the film that I loved was the fact that there was really only two characters the entire movie. This allowed us as viewers to fully indulge in their lives and learn more about them without getting crowded out by other characters. The evolution of Hank and Manny throughout the film ended up being a direct result of eachother, they learned and grew throughout the film because of each other. 

Overall Swiss Army Man was a very interesting and creative film. I loved the underlying themes and the openness to interpretation. The film had a very clear and inspiring story line that almost anyone can relate with. Hank was a man that felt like he had no place which we all can experience at some point.