The games people play. Review on Catch Me If You Can Movie

I must admit that one of the reasons I started watching this movie is for Leonardo DiCaprio whom I have a soft tendre for. 20mns into the movie, and I fell - hook,line and sinker for the character of Frank William Abagnale, Junior - his personality, his intelligence, his courage and his vulnerability. For the life of me, I can't disassociate the character from the actor and am quite certain of this awesome movie winning quite a few awards in the Oscars.

The story is adapted from a true one. Abagnale is a 16 yr old having a penchant for conning people. Its harmless and fun till he runs away from home because of his misery at being forced to choose between his parents during the divorce proceedings.

In an instant ,the boy is forced to grow up and he utilises his most prized and valuable possession - his cunning and brilliant brain. Forging his birth certificate is a piece of cake and making bank cheques, easy. However, his game begins when he pretends to be a co-pilot for Pan American airlines. The way he get the uniform, the ID, informtation about airlines and most importantly, the way he cons 1.3 million dollars from banks through payroll checks are worth an applause.

In the meantime,the bank fraud department of the FBI gets onto his trail and one agent, Carl Hanratty, almost catches him. Ofcourse, Abagnale is not a master conman for nothing - don't want to spoil the fun by telling you how he conned his way out of his almost arrest.

Realising that the pilot pretence was risky, Abagnale moves into the medical profession and chooses to become a ediatric specialist. One of the funniest scenes of the movie is when he is called upon to attend an emergency accident.

Another change of profession, he decides to follow in his soon to be father-in-law's footsteps- LAW!! ''I have a certificate of excellence from Harvard Law school''

The essence of the movie is in the congames of Abagnale. Ofcourse, the Hanretty chase is part of the fun and it's a treat to watch Abagnale's interaction with him - the emotions, the challenge, the frustration, the admiration!!

The presentation of the movie keeps you glued to the seat. It's fast paced and shifts from the present - Abagnale's capture, to the past - his story and exploits.

There's absolutely no way I can even make an attempt at talking about the excellence of the emotions shown in the movie. You feel pity and awe at Abagnale's dealings, laughter and anger at Hanretty's, sadness at Abagnale senior's, and contempt at his mother.

You forget at times that Abagnale is a kid - he' not even 19 years old when he's captured. He might be trickster, a fraud, but in his heart he's just a child. Some of the noteworthy scenes in this regard are :

# The way he cons the school kids. I really wondered why the Principal complained about this one. How many 16yr olds can pretend to be a french teacher for more than a week!!

# Abagnale's use of comic book character names when he cons Hanretty

# His insistence on providing for his father and begging him to get back with his mother

# His vulnerability which makes him want to get married..'' I want to settle down daddy, I want to get married and have a family. Maybe, now mommy and you will come for the wedding and get together''

# His phonecalls to Hanretty - apologies for conning him, wishing him for christmas

# The most emotional moment of the movie - his running away from the FBI to meet his mother only to find she is remarried. I howled at this one

# When he answers the question about how he passed the bar exam - this one had me clapping my hands!!

# My absolute favourites are the scenes in which Abagnale is shown watching television. With every change of 'profession' he watches Programmes and movies related to the new one and ...well, let's just say he takes the help of television to understand his new identity

The end has Abagnale in prison and FBI requesting him to help them solve bank frauds. Abagnale's dilemma at this, leading a honest life as against running away (he almost does) is tensed.

You might feel I have given away most of the movie...but trust me, the movie has much much much more in it than the script and the strategies. I haven't even talked about the way he forges cheques and his terrific intelligence in scraping out of every situation.

The movie subtly talks about broken homes, the misery of innocent children who are callously thrown into the divorce proceedings, their dreams and their torment...

It's Spielberg's terrific direction with Dicaprio's brilliant portrayal of a conman??conchild??...which makes it so unique, entertaining and worth a STANDING OVATION