Cool Hand Luke and Existenialism.

Existentialism has been part of literature and movies ever since it was popularized by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre and other French Philosophers.I've seen many movies which can be interpreted as having existentialist or postmodernist (Nihilistic) tendencies. I myself can't stand movies having nihilistic themes such as 'Pulp Fiction',although these movies have been quite a success at the big screen and no body feels reluctant to call them 'Blockbuster'.
Existentialism on the other hand is not as hopeless a philosophy (If you consider it a philosophy) as Nihilism.Existentialism in a nutshell is philosophy 'individualized'.Its emphasis on human freedom and liberty is such that it has attracted many creative writers and film makers.The influence of existentialism spreads beyond the realm of philosophy.
'Cool Hand Luke',staring one of my favorite actors Paul Newman stands up as a movie which can surely belong to existential genre.The movie surrounds around one man's defiance against authority .The protagonist from start of the movie till its end ,struggles to get himself free.The problem with the most of the people is that they give up pretty quickly but the problem with our hero is that he never gives up.He can be described as a person who consciously makes all those efforts to get himself free,but is unconsciously aware about his futile efforts.Any person who have special affinity towards 'Existentialism' must see this masterpiece.Had Sartre reviewed this movie he would only have used one sentence to end it all,the sentence would surely have been ,'Man is condemned to be free'.But I will end my review with the tag line of the movie,'What we've got here is a failure to communicate'.



Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!