Groundhog Day
...s off a building, brings a toaster into the bathtub, and even kidnaps the groundhog and drives over a cliff. But he always wakes up the next morning. One of the main themes in this movie is when Phil shares his despair with two drunken men who are sitting with him at the bar. When the one man tells Phil that he is a “The glass is half empty” kind of guy, Phil goes in denial by doing whatever he wants with his time. When he brings his drinking buddies along with him, he is not concerned with their lives but only with his own. Phil tries to learn everything about Rita and wants to win her over. At first, he is only concerned with getting her to worship him. He pretends to be her ideal man and seduces her. He doesn’t realize that he really is her “ideal” man. Phil comes to the recognition that Rita does not go for his actions. She refuses to sleep with him, and her slaps are a sign that Phil needs to go deeper within him to discover true love. When he fails with Rita, his misery deepens. In anguish, he tries to find his way to love. He spends a night with Rita, and doesn’t try to sleep with her. This encounter with intimacy changes his perspective. He realizes that someone actually cared for who he was. He learns to live like he has never before. Instead of allowing situations to happen, he controls them. Phil uses his knowledge of what will happen to better the lives of others. He learns piano, ice sculpts, and fixes problems in the city. When an old drifter dies on the street, Phil learns the value of life. He tries in all his power to keep the man alive, but is unsuccessful. Slowly this transformation brings him to empathy. He has suffered himself, and kn...