The Graduate is a unique coming-of-age film. Most coming-of-age films are about the journey from child to adult. Often they are shown as journeys, sexual experiences, or acknowledgements of the need to take on adult responsibilities. Uniquely, The Graduate takes those themes and twists them, leaving the hero with very little self-assurance. We find him at home from his college journey, having a sexual affair chained with questionable moral behavior, and struggling with himself over what his true responsibilities are. He’s been thrown onto the reef of life by a siren’s song. The folk music of Simon and Garfunkel swirls around our hero’s world and is the perfect backdrop as we watch and wonder if our Odysseus will pull the wax out of his ears or shove it in further. In the history of film, The Graduate brought an entirely new level to the coming-of-age story. And because very few movies since have been able to improve upon the tale, The Graduate will remain one of the best movies ever made.
