Harold & Maude Freedom
Harold & Maude – Freedom
This movie is a story about freedom. It delves into the depths of the spiritual side of freedom, and levels off into the more tangible realm of concrete freedoms. It also has a deal of social commentary, and a hinting outlook on a different type of morality. This film brings all these aspects together, along with a great deal of humor, to try to put across a point. The point of this movie is, be free with yourself, to try to show a little humor, and to poke fun at some of the things in our society that needs poking.
The main point of the film is freedom, both spiritual and concrete. Maude is the embodiment of these freedoms in the movie. She shows this by being very free with others property, not letting anything get in her way once she sets about to do something, and by doing that which makes her happy. The way in which Maude is free with other’s property, usually cars, is her way of telling people that they do not have a hold on things, that it is best to love it while it is there for it may not be tomorrow. She also uses this in order to make herself happy, by trying a variety of different cars, each different, in order to see how each feels and how each handles itself. Maude’s attitude of letting nothing stand in her way is best illustrated by the tree that she transplants. She cannot stand to see the poor thing suffocating from the pollution and starving from lack of sunlight. She feels it necessary to liberate it, to take it where it may grow. She and Harold go about this. She will not let anything stop her, not a lack of tools, not the police, nothing. She accomplishes her goal, and does it well. This point is also well illustrated by Maude’s help in getting Harold out of being drafted. She aided him in this endeavor and they succeeded well. Her final triumph of freedom is the choice she has made of ending her life. She desires to end her life at the age of 80, the time she feels it would be best for her to go. This above all other things demonstrates...