“A Man Called Otto” by Marc Forster

Credit: Columbia Pictures

“A Man Called Otto” features Tom Hanks in the role of a surly curmudgeon who’s actively trying to take his own life. In other words, this is not your typical Tom Hanks movie.

Luckily, it’s also not your typical grumpy old man movie.

And Hanks, who we’ve come to know as a voice of kindness and stability, was up for the challenge of this abrasive role. The result is a tearjerker of a coming-of-age movie about a man who “came of age” many years before.

“A Man Called Otto” Details Lesser Known Struggles of Aging

The movie follows the story of Otto, a man who has recently lost his wife to cancer. Struggling to come to terms with his loss, Otto stumbles into a journey of self-discovery despite doing his best to resist it.

The movie portrays Otto’s grief in a realistic and honest way, showing how he struggles with the everyday tasks of life, such as cooking and cleaning, without his wife by his side. The loss of his wife has left a void in his life that he is unable to fill, and he finds himself lost and alone. “A Man Called Otto” not only highlights the grief of losing a loved one, but a related and less discussed issue: senior depression.

Credit: Columbia Pictures

Otto is not just a man who’s lost his wife; he’s a man who’s lost his purpose. He tries to maintain the discipline and schedule from his working days, but no amount of structure can substitute the sense of meaning he got from having a role in a community.

Otto Shows How to Recover a Sense of Purpose

Otto is slowly nursed back into a purposeful life by the community on his block. A new neighbor, Marisol, played by the inexorable Mariana Treviño, moves into the area with her family. One prominent arc of the film is Otto shifting from treating Marisol as another inconvenience to letting Marisol and her family inch deeper and deeper into his life. Before you know it, Otto has friends of all ages that care about him, and we learn that he’s actually a tender-hearted man. He just needed someone as stubborn as himself to penetrate the walls he’d built.

We can all learn something from “A Man Called Otto.” Those of us who aren’t struggling with loneliness or grief have the power to reach those who are. A simple, kind act can lead to a relationship that can entirely shift someone’s outlook on life.

Those who have taken hard blows from society, who’ve built walls to protect themselves from future pain, can learn the value of letting people in even when it’s scary. Otto not only did not want to let Marisol in, but it also seemed as though he had no interest in letting any joy into his life whatsoever. But by doing so, his life was reinfused with purpose and care.

“A Man Called Otto” is another touching movie that Tom Hanks can add to his resumé. It shows that a little care and curiosity can go a long way. And it shows that while grieving can be done alone, true healing often happens when we allow other people into our lives.