This is what Oskar wonders after his father died, killed in the attack to the Twin Towers on September 11, 2011.
Oskar Schell is only 9 years old. He is the protagonist of a 2005 novel by Jonathan Safrar Foer adapted for the screen in 2012: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
I saw the movie last week on satellite TV and I was happy I was alone at home because I was so emotional, touched , moved that I would have felt uncomfortable at being in a theater surrounded by strangers. I loved this movie. I can't tell you much about the book it is based on, but it is certainly a good movie.
The main theme is trauma. Oskar (Thomas Horn) has a simultaneous death wish (he hurts himself) and extreme need for self-preservation (his phobias and panic attacks). Oskar's journey "in search of his father" (Tom Hanks) does not help him get over his traumatic experience but it helps him to build a new relationship with his mother (Sandra Bullock), for instance. In his journey throughout New York City in order to discover what the key he found in his father's closet opens, looking for a guy named Black who might be related to the mysterious key, Oskar has to face and overcome all his fears, happens to meet people with complicated lives and big troubles, has to grow up until the final realization: he can't make sense of the things that don't make any sense, but he can go on living preserving his father's memory and be a better man thanks to that.
Transcript
Oskar Schell: I had to tell someone. I couldn't keep it a secret anymore. Oskar Schell: Can I tell you my story? The Renter: [the renter shows his hand that says 'yes' on it]
Thomas Schell: What would this place be if everyone had the same haircut?
Oskar Schell: And I see Mr. Black who hasn't heard a sound in 24 years which I can understand because I miss dad's voice that much. Like when he would say, "are you up yet?" or...
Thomas Schell: Let's go do something.
Oskar Schell: And I see the twin brothers who paint together and there's a shed that has to be clue, but it's just a shed! Another black drew the same drawing of the same person over and over and over again! Forest black, the doorman, was a school teacher in Russia but now says his brain is dying! Seamus black who has a coin collection, but doesn't have enough money to eat everyday! You see olive black was a gate guard but didn't have the key to it which makes him feel like he's looking at a brick wall. And I feel like I'm looking at a brick wall because I tried the key in 148 different places, but the key didn't fit. And open anything it hasn't that dad needed me to find so I know that without him everything is going to be alright.
Thomas Schell: Let's leave it there then.
Oskar Schell: And I still feel scared every time I go into a strange place. I'm so scared I have to hold myself around my waist or I think I'll just break all apart! But I never forget what I heard him tell mom about the sixth borough. That if things were easy to find...
Thomas Schell: ...they wouldn't be worth finding.
Oskar Schell: And I'm so scared every time I leave home. Every time I hear a door open. And I don't know a single thing that I didn't know when I started! It's these times I miss my dad more than ever even if this whole thing is to stop missing him at all! It hurts too much. Sometimes I'm afraid I'll do something very bad.