Scent of a Woman (1992)
I knew nothing about this other than Al Pacino’s iconic “Hoo-ah”, and the start irked me a bit as I am generally not into high class school dramas. While events at the school provide the overall framing for the entire movie, it isn’t really a school drama. Most of the movie hinges on Al Pacino’s stellar performances. In some ways it is perhaps a bit too dependent on him, but I couldn’t help smiling all the way through (with some crucial exceptions).
At first I wasn’t really sure what the moral takeaway was, as the whole “to snitch or not to snitch” felt like a forced dilemma. Charlie didn’t do anything and we didn’t get much reason why he should take the entire downfall for his so called “friends”. However, this article by Matthew Belinkie helped me clear some things. The moral failing is on everyone else and Charlie is the only one who has the moral high ground here. The movie doesn’t make any excuses for the pranksters who weren’t honorable enough to admit their guilt and they were all clearly ready to sacrifice innocent Charlie be expelled for their crime. However as Pacino’s great speech highlights, the headmaster was equally in the wrong for forcing Charlie into such an unfair situation and trying to basically bribe him into talking.
Something to think about and a well deserved Oscar for Pacino.
Rating: 4