The Angelika is bringing back “The Graduate” on Friday, Aug. 3 for its 45th anniversary. When “The Graduate” first screened, it changed what we would come to expect from the movies. No longer would movies be just light comedy or rowdy adventure – we could expect true life experiences presented with honest, dark emotions. Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) has just returned from college and his parents are giving him a homecoming/graduation party. Ben, however, is reluctant to attend because he is feeling a lot of anxiety “about his future” and feels too uncomfortable to be cordial. Clearly, he is having an anxiety attack but he doesn’t understand it, nor do his parents and their friends. Mike Nichols, the director, didn’t intend it but we felt it: the generation gap. He and cinematographer Bob Surtees bucked movie-making convention by half-lighting faces and avoiding reverse angles, thus creating a hypnotic feel. “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.” The movie never tells us about the failures, the disappointments, the losses, or the rejections he’s suffered in the previous years at college. But they were there, no doubt. When a young man is not excited about his future, it says there are some emotional needs that are not being met. Clue: Ben has no siblings, and the relationship with his parents is tenuous. At the time the movie was released, there was a lot being said about our society and how “lost” we all were. However, it is never “society” when someone is feeling out of touch with himself or his future. It is always about past or current needs not being met on some level. Then Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) enters the picture (literally, if you notice the leg in the promo photo) with her sexy, scheming wiles and egocentric manipulation. It was shocking then and it’s shocking today. Who but a very unhappy woman would prey upon the 21-year-old son of a good friend who’s just home from college? Mrs. Robinson taps into her manipulative bag of tricks to get what she wants. It may appear unseemly that the movie presents such a depraved personality, but the saving grace is that it clearly shows the pain that it can bring the lovers and the family members when the secret is discovered. Mrs. Robinson isn’t counting on her daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross) showing up and catching Ben’s eye. In fact, she makes him promise that he won't see her when she visits. Only on seeing the film again did I fully understand her angry demand. It isn’t that Ben isn’t good enough for her daughter. It is that he is HERS to enjoy and she doesn’t want to lose him. The second reason is that she doesn’t want their affair to become known to Elaine. Mrs. Robinson knows what it would do to her marriage if Elaine were to find out. “And here’s to you Mrs. Robinson, Jesus loves you more than you will know. Whoa, whoa, whoa.” The mood music, the “incident” music, is golden just as it was in the spring of 1968. Simon and Garfunkel capture the mood of the times and it crystallizes the star-struck mood of Ben’s infatuation for Elaine. What makes the movie so powerful are two reasons: the well-written but shocking interaction between a predatory, ego-driven 40-something woman and the completely uninterested, neurotic college grad, and the music. The movie culminates in the church scene, which has to be one of the most galvanistic moments in movie history. It’s electrifying. McGuire: “Are you listening?” Benjamin: “Yes, I am.” Mr. McGuire: “Plastics.” I was surprised that I could be so captivated once again with “The Graduate.” See the film and you’ll be captivated, too. Cedric Wood, Ph.D., L.P.C. 7424 Greenville Ave. #104 Dallas, TX 75231 214-394-4040