Aug 18, 2001 02:53 AM
5854 Views
Scent of a Woman, is an unusual and touching story of a retired Army Lt. Colonel, blind and bitter in life. He is a drunken, cantankerous and extremely difficult person, played brilliantly by Al Pacino who lends his own special touch to the character he portrays.
The film starts with Chris O'Donnell, a young , bright prep.school student with a humble background being hired as a companion and aide to this blind Colonel. Chris being poor, takes up the job to make the extra money over the Thanksgiving Weekend, without knowing what he is letting himself into..
The Colonel with his own wild, erratic lifestyle goes on to prove to the young student, that even a blind man can enjoy life to the full with great flamboyance and flair... he does the breathtaking Tango number with the beautiful lady Gabrielle Anwar, drives a car....much to Chris' horror! Chris O'Donnell's experience is more like an initiation into the truths of life. The two bond and learn a lot of life together. But then there comes a time when the young student Chris would like to and tries to breakaway from the cantankerous drunken Colonel who is bent on living an erratic life style. Young Chris is unaware of the Colonel's plan of commiting suicide and this comes as a rude shock to him when he does all it takes to overpower the Colonel and save his life. There is a bonding between the the two...one rich, proud, flamboyant experienced,blind and bitter, the other young, troubled, intelligent, poor and with problems to face at the School.. ... The end of the film is a great turn around for the Colonel who learns there is more to life ....and a great advantage to the poor young lad who , although he starts off as a companion and chaperone on hire, ends up as a very close dear friend who honestly cares for the Colonel. A great film to experience and great acting by all.
And finally I just cannot help mentioning that this film somehow kept reminding me of ''Finding Forrester'', a recent film in which Sean Connery plays the title role. Again, a role played as brilliantly by Sean as that of the Colonel by Al Pacino !
PS. Pl. read my Review on 'Finding Forrester'.If you liked this one, you'd like that too!
