Really Surprised!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

"The Eight Day" is really one of a kind! It doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to teach us about life's simple beauty and beautiful simplicity but there's something in the way it's done that is just too weirdly daring to ignore. Sure the film sins sometimes by sentimentality, but there's more to enjoy in that atypical and powerful journey from Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael.It starts with a young man named George (Pascal Duquenne), he has Down syndrome and the film opens with a voice-over narration that leaves no doubt about it. It's a succession of little poetic vignettes, echoing the chapters from the genesis no religion here, each day is about some beautiful bit of randomness created by God, and I had no problem accepting that George was the eight day's creation. The film even confronts the offensive slur "Mongoloid" to its own origin and we see, from George's vision, the Mongols as a civilization of horsemen and conquerors, nothing to belittle.And George, as his own destiny's conqueror, decides one day to go looking for his mom. He lives in an institution where he's got friends, even a love interest who dances ballet and people who treat him nicely, but he still puts on his 'Sunday dress', takes his luggage and leaves. It's easy to get over-analytical and talk about existential impulses but this is a film where I think the right angle of discussion is never "Why?" but "Why not?" The Down syndrome is integral to that approach, not to mention its emotional impact.Indeed, here's a disease where we expect a certain pattern of behavior, many of them to be 'embarrassing', but we're not in George's mind and we can never really tell whether it's a manifestation of the syndrome or his colorful personality. So we start to look at his behavior under a different scope as the handicap is never played as a 'gimmick'. George knows his "difference", and each effort he makes to fit in the world inevitably crashes into its reality. There's a heartbreaking moment involving a waitress, where we feel his devastation without blaming her reaction.That's the power of "The Eighth Day", it transcends the limits of the handicap but never at the expenses of common sense by sugarcoating it. And it accomplishes this feat by showing that there's something in the core of that syndrome that can inspire people: goodness, attention, simplicity and a little bit of madness. It's tricky to make such a point without being condescending or patronizing, but this is where George's co-lead, plays his part. We have to see another man who can benefit from George's presence.This man is Harry, perfectly sane, mentally and physically. Played by Daniel Auteuil, Harry's a motivational speaker for young executives to be, working for some corporate nightmare named Future Bank, all in gray walls and black ties and suits. When we first see Harry, he's caught in the same weekly routine, regurgitating every day the same rhapsody: how to smile, to be convincing, self-confident. Everyone's drinking his words but we don't two reasons: a/ this 90's speeches have become a cliché by now and b/ it's so repetitive we suspect Harry doesn't even believe his own crap.In a way, Harry is also entrapped in a series of patterns that deprive his life from a substantial meaning. In reality, he's divorced, he can't see his children and it's very fitting that he meets George at a moment where he was teasing death. The man was at the verge of a breakdown and it's George who tries to help him looking at the bright (or at least simple) side of life. This sounds like the premise of "Rain Man" with Tom Cruise being replaced by a mix of Michael Douglas' "Gordon Gekko" and D-Fens but George is no Raymond Babbit, his intelligence is different.I can say it's from the heart but it wouldn't be true because George suffers a lot on that level. The tragedy of George is that he's never got not even a parcel of love back while he's got so much to give, the only member of his family who can take care of him, dismisses him because she feels she has the right to live her life. That was a scene of raw intensity and honesty because once again, we can't blame the rejection, and it's pivotal moment that cements the friendship between George and Harry."The Eight Day" becomes a poignant and funny buddy road movie where you can feel the bond growing between the two men. A young man with visions of Latin French singer Luis Mariano popping out of nowhere and a corporate victim with no visions whatsoever. How can that friendship be possible? As viewers, we're confronted to that question as well. There's a moment where George goes all berserk in a shoe store, I guess I would have bought whatever he needed so he can shut up, but boy, would have I loved to experience one minute of silence lying silently on the grass. Sometimes, the film does take you places.Of course, there's another side of the coin the story cleverly dodges. Anyone going through Harry's phase would immediately lose his job. Sure, you got all the time to admire a ladybug, still, that won't but I don't think it will make you much a happy person in the long term. We should all go a little mad sometimes, but brief madness would be more befitting. Maybe the film goes deliberately over-the-top with its own material (some situations are unbelievable and unrealistic, some "normal" characters act in a very weird way) to warn that after all, this is all just a fable.But this fable has some heart, truth and greatness about it and the chemistry between pals Pascal Duquenne and Daniel Auteuil, both winners of the Cannes Festival's Prize, really make the film!

**May contain spoilers** I finally own "Le huitième jour".First time I saw it was as a rental, while living in the US. This movie is a true Film, it is a fairytale, where reality and fantasy is interwoven in a true use of style, acting, vision and direction.Watched it yesterday, having found that it was now available on DVD, and buying it in the US of all places.Harry and George start out as the odd couple, but as the Film progress they become two sides of humans and humanity, George is prefacing the end through his words and actions through the Film, and only at the end all of them becomes apparent.This story is one which I think all should on occasion try to see, it is movie making at it's best. The dream sequences would not translate into words as strongly as the visual impact, the fact that no words are spoken through some of them, and the 'force' with which our emotions and thoughts react to them.It is not supposed to be 'believable' it is supposed to tell a story, and it does that to the best possible extent imaginable. And indeed on the Eight day "all is good".This is one of my favorite movies all time.

This film is about the unlikely friendship between a businessman and a man with Down Syndrome.The character development in this film is excellent. We get to believe that Harry is a businessman who neglects his family, and Georges is an innocent man who craves loving and care from the "normal" society. Acting is excellent, and the Cannes best actor award is well deserved.The fantasy scenes in the film highlights the fact that Georges misery towards his abandonment by his family, and his desire to be treated like a normal person. The song that gets played repeatedly also reinforces this message. The film shows that people who are mentally handicapped are good natured. We have been treating them with discrimination and neglect, a fact that is highlighted by the scene where Georges gives a present to the waitress in the kitchen). If we get to understand and share these people's world, both we and the mentally handicapped can become very happy.I was so drawn into the film and the characters' emotional experiences. It is a touching film for good natured souls.

The eighth day, what was it like? Simple, sweet and slightly moralistic, as it turns out. That was when God made George, and endowed him with an extra chromosome, be it by chance or divine experiment. But when God looked at George, he saw it was for the good. And so will you.The plot is simple. Harry (Daniel Auteuil), a stressed-out salesman instructor, is losing grip on the disintegrating fabric of his personal and professional life, when he accidentally meets George (Pascal Duquenne), a stray escapee from a mental institution. George suffers from the Down syndrome, but is adorably adept at enjoying the simple things in life. The only thing he misses is his family. And on the day George eventually goes out to try to find it, he is almost run over by the recklessly driving Harry. Against the odds, the two become friends and set out on a journey to find the missing links of their lives.Not very original, you might say. True enough, comparisons to `Rainman' and `Falling Down' keep coming to mind throughout the movie, with Daniel Auteuil sometimes looking so much like Michael Douglas. But despite these `borrowings' and pervasive overtones of political correctness, the authors of the movie manage to deliver many moments of genuine humor and sweetness in the film. The acting is commendable too, honored by two acting awards of the Cannes Festival in 1996.Eventually, the film prevails over its imperfections, much like George is left unhindered by his own handicap. After all, don't we all sometimes just yield to the magic of the simple things in life? Even if it is only in defiance of life's other, tragic circumstances.