Movie Review – ‘Scent of a Woman’

‘Out of order, I show you out of order. You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask. I'd show you, but I'm too old, I'm too tired, I'm too fuckin' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago, I'd take a FLAMETHROWER to this place! Out of order? Who the hell do you think you're talkin' to? I've been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are... executin' his soul!’

And that is only one of the terrific quotes that you will face if you decide to see ‘Scent of a Woman’.
Despite the title and the fact that there will be a woman, I think that the movie is about the journey a man takes from childhood to adulthood. The teenager, played by Chris O’Donnell is just a kid that saw some students setting up a prank that went very wrong and now the school administration is trying to pry out what Charlie knows. He is hired to take care of Frank Slade (played by Al Pacino) a weary retired Army Lt. Colonel, who through an accident looses his sight and his way of life. The interplay between the two characters is mind blowing.
There have been many critics about Pacino’s play in ‘Scent of a Woman’, but we must accept the fact that the performance is an extraordinary one. He is both intolerable and completely lovable in this Oscar-winning role of a lifetime. He overpowers each sentence he speaks, each gesture he makes and forces himself to be in the center of attention in every scene he appears. His character has a lot of funny quotes, he can smell the perfume of a woman (hence the title of the movie) and even though he is blind, he makes one the most dramatic and full of passion tango scenes of all times.
All in all, ‘Scent of a Woman’ is masterful piece of work. The character development is perfect, the dialogue terrific and the story line makes the audience feel all the right emotions at the right turns and has great drama.
‘Whoooah!’ I’ll give a BIG 10! Worth seeing it!