Seven Names. Seven Strangers. One Secret

Cast: Will Smith (as Ben Thomas), Rosario Dawson (as Emily Posa), Woody Harrelson (as Ezra Turner) amongst several others.

Plot: An IRS agent with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers (courtesy IMDB)

Review: This movie starts randomly with the central character and with each passing frame becomes dark, to portray the central character, Ben Thomas as unattached to feeling of others, as he moves on from hurting one person to the other, or that’s how Gabriele Muccino (director of The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006 fame) intended it to be, contrary to the character’s actual personality which is exposed over time through the movie till the last frame.

Will Smith being a consummate actor that he is, portrays the ambivalence of emotions within Ben Thomas quite fluidly. The story builds and opens up as each of the new characters are introduced, first Ben Thomas itself, an IRS agent who is ruthless, with no sensitivity towards the plight of people he’s investigating. Then Ezra Turner (played excellently by Woody Harrelson) a blind, customer service representative, who plays piano in the mall in his spare time. He’s subjected to a blunt, unexpected verbal attach by Ben Thomas early on in the movie, the reasons for which are exposed later on. Emily Posa (portrayed by Rosario Dawson) an printer, with a congenital heart defect, listed on Stage II on the transplant list, who owes IRS a lot of money, and eventually becomes the love interest of Ben Thomas. Several other characters are also introduced into the story as it progresses. However, their impact to the storyline is to only establish the motive of Ben Thomas, which is unclear to the last five minutes of the movie.

Why is Ben Thomas like the way he is? Why he’s after these people? Why seven? What he wants to achieve from his action? Are questions that keeping coming up all through the movie, only to be revealed in the end.

This movie is a product of great thinking and capacity of the its director to associate himself with the characters and their emotional state to bring it out in the open. Gabriele Muccino has done earlier with The Pursuit of Happyness in 2006, a movie that was nominated for the Best Movie, Best Direction and Best Screenplay in 2007. He deserved an Oscar then and in my personal opinion will be nominated for this one as well.

Rating: 5 of 5