Hugo

"I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason."

This movie is based on Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The story is about an orphan boy who lives in a Paris railway station. He has this "job", he said, of fixing an automaton that his father left for him. This automaton, if it's fixed, then it has the ability to write.

It tells about Hugo Cabret's journey of finding piece after piece of the automaton itself. But what he found is more than that. He did not only fix the automaton, but he fixed someone's broken life and most importantly, he fixed his lonely life.

The story itself is full of complication, which is one of the keys that I like about a movie. But the direction from Martin Scorsese is remarkable. No wonder this movie got 11 Oscar nominations!




Before Hugo's father died, they both loved to go and see movies. A movie from George Méliès is one of their favourite. When his father died, the only thing that had left for Hugo is the automaton. Hugo worked so hard to fix this automaton, thinking that the automaton would write a message from his father. Not only that, if he could fix it, then he thought he wouldn't be feeling so lonely anymore. 


This automaton would need a unique key. A heart-shaped keylock. Surprisingly, the one who has this key is Hugo's friend, Isabelle. At first, Hugo didnt want to tell anyone about the automaton. But then he had to tell Isabelle so that she'd lend him the key. 


Far from Hugo's expectation, once the automaton was fixed, it didn't write his father's message. But it drew. It drew a scene from George Meiles' movie, who is Isabelle's godfather. The journey didn't end there. Hugo, with his unbelievably curiousness, tried to find out what does the picture mean. And why did George was so upset when he saw the picture?


It turned out that George, before owning a toy shop, was a famous magician. Then he changed his career to a filmmaker. He said that he "love creating illusions". He was a successful and famous filmmaker back then, along with his wife as the actress in every movie he made. When the war came, no one wanted to watch movies. No one wanted George Meiles' movies. Upset, George burned all of his movie properties.


Years by years, he thought he was forgotten. He thought that no one ever care about his movies anymore. That's why he wanted to forget the past.


But then Hugo came. A boy whose initial intention was to fix the automaton, who then fix George's life. Hugo once said, he loves fixing things. He'll be sad if  a machine is broken, because it doesn't get to do its purpose. Same thing applies to human. Every person in this world was born for some reasons. Once a person is broken, he couldn't get to do what he has to do. 


I love this movie. But more than that, I love the story. The concept. The messages. It was actually a simple message, yes. But the writer's able to create a journey of a young boy to deliver this message. Great metaphor.