Question of Identity in North by Northwest - Movie Review Example

Number] Question of Identity in North by Northwest The movie North by Northwest is an American suspenseful and classical thriller movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The movie was released in 1958. It has been regarded as the most entertaining and stylish thriller film divulged by Hitchcock. The critics often deem it as first James Bond movie in which the protagonist was mistaken for a criminal. It basically depicts the theme of mistaken identity that makes the life of an innocent man complicated and pushed him to encounter series of unexpected and thrilling incidents matchless to his actual life. The conversations between the man, his secretary, his mother and the federal agents pose several questions about the importance of standing on his real identity for a person. The movie shows how mistaken identity could take a person close to death due to others’ misunderstanding about him. It tells about the situations when the false identity captures a person so strongly that the truth becomes vulnerable and mistaken identity dominates the life of the people despite their will to prove their real identity. The lead character of the movie a successful advertising executive Thornhill was believed to smuggle the microfilm and the spies tried to prevent him. They strived to kill him as they believe that he was George Kaplan. The agents followed that man across the United Stated to stop his interference with their plans. Due to his mistaken identity the agents strived to prevent him from smuggling the microfilm that contain some very important government secrets however, in real he has nothing to do with the government secrets, microfilm and plans of the U.S. secret agents. He was busy in his routine activity when the federal agent identified him as Kaplan. Since, no one has seen Kaplan in real it became even more difficult for Thornsill to prove that he was not Kaplan. The innocent and ordinary wrong man hero represents the 20th century movie characters surrounded by dangerous circumstances, police chase and mysterious and glamorous lady. The scene, graphics, music and background colours are also brilliantly selected by Hitchcock to appropriately compliment the main theme of the movie. The movie tells the tale of life of an ordinary person caught up by mysterious incidence due to mistaken identity however; the movie conveys the deep message about the mistaken identity of the entire society. It shows that everyone in the world is not actually what he appears in front of the others. Thornhill used to do the job of hiding the truth and portraying false image of things in front of others and eventually his own life became victim of false identity. He had to experience the troubles and unpleasant incidents in his life when his own personality was mistaken by the others. This is the job that he intentionally used to do with the other things not knowing that one day his own life will also be the same as the things he used to advertise in front of the people. The movie very interestingly portrays the stunning and mysterious theme of wrong man syndrome supported by the elements of thrill, action and romance. An innocent person was in the middle of his routine day when he was whisked away at gunpoint as he was mistaken by the agents for a spy Kaplan. He was accused of several spying activities as well as killing a person. The more he tries to prove his real identity , more he found himself getting involved with the mistaken identity and there came certain movements when he ought to take up the mistaken identity on his real on. He knew that he was not the one agents were searching for but there was no way in front of him to convince the agents that they have taken a wrong person. The movie depicts the mishaps that one could encounter due to others’ misunderstanding about his actual identity. Thornhill was a person sheltered by wealth and prestige however mistaken identity made him isolated and totally vulnerable. The movie explains that no one is actually what he appears in front of others. The identity of some people is mistaken by other others whereas some people used to make false identity at their own to deceive people or to gain certain benefits. In both of these cases, the real identity becomes so weak that when someone tries to remain stick to the real identity it becomes difficult for him and he has no choice rather to bear the consequences of his wrong or mistaken personality. The tale of the movie shows certain realities of the everyday lives where people are compelled to adopt false identities or mistaking others personalities due to false perceptions and portrayals. It shows that the personalities of the people are also like the things advertised of media. The advertising geniuses work to build false identity of certain things and the people also perceive their wrong identity. Likewise, in real life also the actual identities often differ from the apparent identities of people. The personalities of people are often mistaken and in the world of false representation it often became difficult for a person to prove his real identity because the false identities strongly capture the minds of the people as compared with the real ones. Hence, North by Northwest is a light entertaining and classic story of suspense, thrill and series of mysterious incidents that all were initiated by an incident of identity of a person mistaken by the federal agents. The movie grippingly tells about the dynamic of real and false identity and show that the people in the world are surrounded by lots of complications due to the questions of real identity. It often becomes difficult for the people to stand on their actual identities because the circumstances often take them away from their actual personalities and then intentionally or unintentionally they have to live the false identities keeping several questions in their mind about their real identity. Work Cited North by Northwest, Director Alfred Hitchcock, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1996 Read More