Ordinary Magic

Some movies start slow in the beginning and you lose interest quite fast. Ordinary Magic kept me captivated from the get-go and reminded me of how easy it is to loose priceless memories of your home and growing up. The way Jeffery shows his compassion for his town,home and his aunt is just the beginning of what one person can do as well as making fellow residents realize large corporations will walk over you and do what is necessary to get the job done. Even if this is a movie, it does hold truth even today with Isreal and government not corporations. Every time I see Ryan Renolds I remember Ordinary Magic. (It had that much impact on me).

It was interesting to see Ryan Reynolds in his first movie role. The film won a Genie Award, Canada's version of the Oscars, for Best Adapted Screenplay. I have to say it is a very typical Canadian movie set in Paris, Ontario.

I come very close to adoring this movie. Besides its thoughtful presentation of Hinduism in action, in the life of one young practitioner, it admirably portrays the sense of displacement the central character Jeffrey [Ganesh is his nickname] feels after his father dies and he realizes that, even though he has grown up in India and considers himself an Indian, he is viewed as a "foreigner" by most of the people in the village in which he has lived. He goes to Canada [to the U.S. in the book] to live with an aunt he has never known and to try to adapt to Western life. But, as it turns out, he is as much an eye-opener to his fellow students as the West is to him. Toward the end the film is a little too simplistic, in its presentation of Jeffrey's determination to put his Hindu beliefs up against a voracious development planner, but overall this is a feel-good movie with true heart and soul. The original novel, first called "Ganesh" and now published as "Ordinary Magic" as well, is a fine and worthy young adult book, intelligent enough for adults too.

This morning I was flipping through the channels on television and came across this film which had started only about 15 minutes before.

I was immediately interested in watching the film and put aside my plans to go out until the film had finished. I was completely riveted to the screen by handsome young Ryan Reynolds and his extraordinary performance as Jeffrey. Mr. Reynolds Indian accent seemed very realistic to me, and I was very impressed with his dedication to the role, even going so far as to learn some of the Yoga the role required him to do.

In some sense the storyline was familiar (David versus Goliath), but it is a wonderful film with good performances by all including Glenn Headley as Jeffrey's aunt and an over the top performance by singer Paul Anka as the manipulative land developer who will not take no for an answer when Jeffrey's aunt refuses to sell her house.

Eventually Jeffrey teaches the townspeople and his aunt some lessons in acceptance and in standing up and fighting for what you believe in. This film will give you hope about the good in people and will leave you feeling very nice at the end.

This movie has the formula that many afternoons' specials use, where the displaced kid knows more than those around him.

Ganesh is a young Ryan Reynolds.

Glenne Headly plays charlotte It is the interaction between the two characters that makes the focus of the movie.

The title is the redeeming factor. The movie presses upon you the lessons of magic. That it is real and works in ways not planned. At any moment, they could have lost their house. Due to process and time, people had time to reflect on what they were doing. Therefore, magic does not have to be supernatural. Especially ordinary magic. Similar to miracles, it is not a supernatural process that is a miracle; it is that the process happens when you need it.