While the movies have redeeming qualities that make them worthwhile viewing for anyone with maturity, neither is for children. The dominant shadow theme in both films is suicide, the attempt at which they portray over and over, sometimes with a near comedic overtone. Here is where a spoiler warning must be given. However, looking at the two movies, so identical in most respects and critically different in a few other respects, is an interesting sociological/ideological look at today’s society. I had not been conscious of seeing Lassgard before, but I have been a fan of Tom Hanks since “Big” issued in 1988, and gradually grew even more appreciative of his acting talent, especially in 1994's “Forrest Gump” and 1998's “Saving Private Ryan.” I cannot be even-handed in comparing the acting of the leads. I watched the Hanks version a couple of weeks ago, and then the Lassgard version last week. One comes from Sweden in 2015 in the form of “A Man Called Ove,” starring an actor famous in Sweden, Rolf Lassgard and one from our country in a 2022 film entitled “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks. They are both adapted from the same novel by Fredrik Backman. Two movies might be a vehicle to attempt to answer that question. So, in what ways is our early 21st century age the best of times, the worst of times, the age of reason and the age of foolishness? It’s likely that in virtually every age thereafter writers have also found comparisons to Dicken’s lines which follow, “…it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” A few words later, he implicitly confirms that repetitive comparison, “…in short, the period was so far like the present period.” Most of us likely remember the opening lines from Charles Dicken’s 1859 novel, “A Tale of Two Cities:” “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
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