Woody Allen
Zelig

Shot as if IT WERE a documentary set in the United States of America during the 1920s, this film focuses on the story of Leonard Zelig, the chameleon man, the one who transforms into every person he meets. Zelig is the man who lacks the courage to be himself, who deprives himself of his identity to assume that of others.
There he is, a slave to his popularity due to his peculiar abilities, a human case, the object of attention from medical and marketing scholars, an opportunity to make money. His figure excessively fuels the merchandising of products inspired by him. Only Dr. Eudora Fletcher will treat him like a human being and not a sideshow phenomenon.

But why does Zelig behave this way, transforming into every person he meets? Is it due to a lack of affection?
"My brother beat me, my sister beat my brother, and together they beat me, my family beat me, the neighbors beat my family and together they beat me, the entire block beat me?"
Is he afraid that, by remaining himself, he would really get it?
Is he afraid that not being like others is a fault?
Is he afraid that it's a sin to have never read Moby Dick, as everyone else has?

Or is it society that rejects the different, and Zelig therefore can only yield to conformity?
And when Zelig seems cured of his "illness," doesn't society blame him, make him pay for it?
"Zelig sold the story of his life to Hollywood for a large sum of money. When the scandal breaks out, the producers ask for the money back. Zelig can only return half, the rest has already been spent. Highly offended, they give him back only half of his life. They keep the best moments and he's left with only mealtime and sleep hours."
And isn't it his anomaly that brings him back into the public eye, rehabilitating him in the eyes of society, thanks to his Atlantic crossing aboard a biplane?

A bit of Zelig is in all of us: in our ancestral fears, in blindly following the masses, in our effort to please others. To fit in, not to cause trouble and not to be a nuisance, don't we often dangerously abandon our own selves?
Beware, then! Here's the moral teaching, the message of this film: one must have the courage to make their own choices.
OTHERWISE, ONE IS A ROBOT OR A LIZARD.

A confession?: Neither have I, dear Zelig, ever read Moby Dick.