Movie Review: Ordinary People (1980)

Well, I watched another great flick last night. I've wanted to watch Ordinary People for a long time now, and I finally got around to it. Ordinary People won Best Picture in 1980 and I can see why. This is such a simple movie. It doesn't try to be something it's not. It truly just deals with ordinary people. In this instance, these ordinary people are dealing with the death of the eldest son as well as the attempted suicide that follows by the younger son (played by Timothy Hutton, who won Best Supporting Actor that year as well.) Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland play the Jarrett's, an upper middle class family who are trying to return to normal after their son returns home from the hospital after a suicide attempt. Donald Sutherland plays Calvin Jarrett, a successful businessman who's ultimate goal now is to protect his son, Conrad (played by Timothy Hutton.) Mary Tyler Moore plays Beth Jarrett, who is distant from both her son Conrad and husband Calvin after the death of her one son, Buck, and the suicide attempt by her other son, Conrad. All she wants to do is to pretend that everything is okay and to move on. She doesn't show a lot of emotion toward Conrad and clearly misses her other son Buck, who she deemed her favorite. The main part of the movie deals with how Conrad just wants to be left alone after his suicide attempt. He becomes annoyed with his father's constant concern and worry about him. He is trying to rebuild friendships and adjust to school life after returning home. He continues to be haunted by his older brother's death, for which he feels responsible. He decides to see Dr. Berger (played masterfully by Judd Hirsch) to try and work through his shame, guilt, and depression. After some pushing from Dr. Berger, Conrad finally lets out his feelings about his brother's death and comes to realize that the only way he can move on with his life is if he can truly forgive himself.
One thing that has to be said is that because this movie was directed by Robert Redford (for which he won Best Director) it is slow...and I mean slow. This movie takes it time getting to the point. But don't get me wrong, that is not a drawback for this movie. The characters seem so natural and it truly feels like Donald Sutherland is the real father of Timothy Hutton. What makes this movie so great is, like I said earlier, it doesn't try to be more than it is. It's just a great story of an ordinary family trying to deal with issues that so many families have to deal with. The plot could have the tendency to become overly dramatic, like a Lifetime movie. But instead it takes a relaxed, slow pace and doesn't fall into the trap of being melodramatic. All in all, this movie get the thumbs up from me and I recommend you take a look.