It has been out for a while, but as we have such enthusiastic reviewers, I thought we could bring this one in for you.
It’s by Daxin Guo, who is studying in Dubai.
In this riveting film, Mel Gibson plays Professor Murray, a self-taught language professor who becomes the chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. Pursuing his dream to define every single word in the English language he sacrifices his family to work on the project day and night.
Murray becomes so deeply involved in the storm of pen and ink, that he wonders if the task can ever be completed. At this difficult juncture, God sends salvation, and a volunteer contributor constantly provides them with ideas and indexes to save the work of dictionary editing.
However, they soon discover the mysterious volunteer is a murderer in a psychiatric hospital. American doctor, Miner, who had been traumatised by war in his early years, was sentenced to life in an insane asylum after he accidentally killed an innocent man.
The most brilliant plot twist in the film is that a psychiatric patient appears to be normal but is not normal, suffering hallucinations but displaying a real human nature.
As a military doctor, he once burned a mark on the face of prisoners of war on the battlefield. The anger and hatred of prisoners of war at that time were deeply imprinted on his mind. He was a kind man, so he felt fear, which even forced him into a split personality.
He had always felt that the prisoner of war wanted to seek revenge, so one day, when he felt that the enemy was approaching, he took out his gun to chase him and killed an innocent man by mistake. Although he was not sentenced by the court, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
After confessing his mistake, he tried to compensate up by using his retirement pension to help the victim’s wife raise her children. Finally, his wife forgave him but because of his feelings for her, he felt intense guilt, even to the point of self-mutilation, and voluntarily submitting to backwards and cruel mental treatment.
Mental illness plagued Dr. Miner, and it was the collection of entries for the Oxford English Dictionary that filled his frail soul, and it was that passion that sustained him from falling into infinite madness and self-torture.
Although Miner has committed unforgivable crimes, as the hospital Dean says to the victim’s wife, “Even the most terrible soul should hope for forgiveness.” What’s more, Miner is essentially such a kind and strong person.
At the finale, Dr. Murray bravely stands in front of Winston Churchill, the then Minister of the Interior, to save Miner, and said generously: “This is a complex man suffering from pain and sorrow, and he is also a life, so he is worthy of respect.”
My ranking gives this film and 8/10.
