Why I Love "Lars and the Real Girl"

I got to see this little gem of a movie when my friend dragged me to it. Well, he didn't really drag me. I love Ryan Gosling. He was genius in Half Nelson. But the premise of this movie seemed very odd. And really, you can't capture the magic of this movie easily. Lars is a dysfunctional man dealing with (or not really dealing with) a sad and tragic past. His brother, who is married and expecting his first child, is more than functional. The attempts to help Lars and get him to be more sociable are all failed. By everyone. In an attempt to deal with his issues, Lars orders a fake woman. A doll. Yep, one of those anatomically correct dolls. But Lars takes her around as if she's real. So what do his family and friends do? They accept her. They go along with the delusion. And as they work through the issues that face Lars, his "girlfriend" Bianca helps to transform the broken Lars. And in the end, he is transformed. Why I love this movie is manifold. First, it shows the pain of the human spirit. Lars's story is heartbreaking, and very easy to identify with - even if you've never ordered a plastic doll to help you deal with your troubles. We are all broken in some way. And the other reason I love this movie is it shows with great tenderness how much we all need each other. We may think we're ok. We may think we're all doing fine. But the fact is, some of us, many of us, are hurting inside. And it's really only through the efforts of the people who love us, and whom we allow ourselves to love, can we be healed. This is what Lars learns. And what the town learns. And what we, as viewers understand. I love this movie because a part of me is Lars. A part of me is his brother. A part of me is his sister-in-law. Hurting, confused, just trying to help. And frankly, a part of me is Bianca, the woman doll. A silent partner in insanity.