It takes sheer brilliance to combine psychology, biology, philosophy, humor and ordinary 20th century lives and put the finished product on the silver screen. Only a director of the stature of the great Alain Resnais could have managed to pull of this masterpiece of a movie.
In Mon oncle d'Amérique (My American Uncle) the great neurobiologist Henri Laborit presents his theories about animal behaviour and applies them to the lives of people. Laborit who acts as himself in the film uses evolutionary psychology to question the role that society plays in the lives of people.
Until watching this movie, I was under the impression that the yearning for individualistic freedom and the need to get away from norms established by some selfish people generations ago, were areas that people started exploring just in the recent past. However, this film made in 1980 looks at this very issue and has a direct message to the moral policemen of the world to live and let live.
I would also like to add that this film was far more interesting than any science lesson I had in school and I learnt a lot more from Resnais and Laborit than I ever did from my teachers. One of the morals of the film is if you don't find an effective way of letting out anger, the anger will swallow you up faster than you can imagine. Gerard Depardieu fans must watch this film and see the serious side of a great comedian.
The film won the Special Jury Prize as well as the Fipresci Prize at Cannes in 1980.
A special word of thanks to the Alliance Francaise of Bombay for screening this film.
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