Last night I watched “up in the air”, a movie that talks about a really interesting and bizarre job; group of employees are hired to fire people in companies all over America. They spend 250 days of the year traveling from state to state, firing people as a result of economic crisis.
The movie is based on a real novel that was written By Walter Kim, Sheldon Turner and Jason Rietman (screen play) and directed By Jason Rietman. Major roles were played by George Clooney, as Ryan Bingham, Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran, Anna Kendrick as Natalie keener, Jason Bateman as Craig Gregory and Amy Mortin as Kara Bingham.
One of these employees is Ryan Bingham played by George Clooney who travels around America firing people. He has a family who live in Omaha, his sister is getting married but he rarely sees her or any member of the family. He is always up in the air, sipping champagne and eating nuts, when he gets home he feels peculiar.
“ You know the smell of plastic plates, the over priced Suchi, the small cups of water, the smell of gas or new baggage near the security zone; well these smells might irritate you all, but when I m there I feel I’m back home.”
For him airport is his habitat, where he can be himself, relax and enjoy the ride.
Bingham is a character that is strong, sufficient at work, stiff and neat. He rarely had any human relations; he is focused on work, dedicated and smart enough when dealing with people.
He knows what he is doing, and that’s the most important factor in the movie.
The character’s structure is based on his daily routines, with coworkers and his relations with people around him.
George Clooney nailed this character and I forgot that it was just acting. But the movies discussed a strange plot, how a man can be heartless with people, he is not affected by any type of human emotions, he does not cry or laugh, or shout he is just natural like a machine.
The director did a good job bringing Goerge Clooney, but I think the movie would be better if the plot was a bit different; the paste of the film was slow and boring. I almost fell asleep in some parts of the film, but the small so called “ relationship” between George’s Clooney character Ryan Bingham and Alex Goran (played by Vera Varmiga) is true and honest. Call me pessimistic, but we reached to certain point in life where relationships became shallow, and just a way to express a certain desire. Some people have pure flings; others get into a relation for business matters and so on.
Real human relations became so rare nowadays, so the director wanted to say this, and he ended the movie in a very pessimistic way. Even though he made Ryan Bingham cry at the end and fall deeply in love, he switched the ending from” Hollywood style” to being more realistic.
The movie portrays an important message. How workaholics some time dismiss real pleasures of life and focus on themselves. They might be scared from facing what is around them, or they are just being selfish. George Clooney successfully portrayed the frustration that comes with isolation and loneliness.
I know that the employees that were fired in the movie were just minor Characters but they had a major impact in the film. They are the one who gave Ryan Bingham an important role and influence in the movie. There was one character that got fired and decided to kill her self, by jumping off a bridge. This one sentence kept every body whose watching the movie wonder, is she going to kill herself?
At the end, the lady killed herself, leaving a depressed consultant in regret, after quitting her job
Maybe an emotional person is not qualified to have this job, and he or she must face human emotions with neutral expressions that will let him or her complete the job without getting effected by the results.
At the end, after experiencing warm emotions with Alex, the relationship turned out to be unreal, so what is better way to get over someone than to get involved in work?
