Scent of a Woman...

However, since I first watched the film “Scent of a Woman”, I have begun to realize that in this world there might exist a blind person who posseses senses better than other non-blind people.

According to the film, not only smell,but also the senses of taste, hearing and touch are amazingly developped in blind person are much better than sighted people’s.

Scent of a Woman is about Charlie Simms ( Chris O’Donnell ), a Boston senior school student. Charlie has got a school discipline problem and his future is uncertain. He spends the Thanksgiving weekend working as a companion of a retired soldier, an embittered and blind veteran, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slades ( Al Pacino ). He wants to earn some money to get a plane ticket to Oregon for the approaching Christmas break. Charlie does not know that Frank already has a detailed plan for the long weekend - staying in the expensive Waldorf-Astoria, making love to a gorgeous woman, meeting his big bother and then killing himself. Before Charlie realizes what he has got into, he is accompanying the cantankerous blind man around Manhattan as they begin their "eye-opening"adventures, which includes driving a Ferrari and tangoing with a beautiful woman, Donna ( Gabrielle Anwar ). Frank is passionate about women - he has an excellent ability to identify any scent worn by women. Charlie gradually becomes aware of the sentimental romantic buried deep within the lonely man’s heart. The developing relationship between him and the retired colonel is the core of the film. Despite his blindness, Frank teaches Charlie how to see. Charlie, too, teaches Frank how to understand people’s feelings.

On returning to school on Monday, Charlie is facing a ruined future. Fortunately, the powerful words spoken by Slades delivers the young student from the claws of defeat. Slades gives a 'vision' to the school committee - he teaches them to see more clearly.

In my very personal opinion, there are two major reasons for any outstanding film. The first reason is that the plot is well-written. Any kind of flash-back techniques might be used in the film to establish a rapport with the audience. Second, an outstanding flim requires great actors. The plot in Scent of a Woman is quite simple but Al Pacino's performance is anything but simple - it's a magnificent performance. Despite the profanities and vulgarities in the script, they become beautifully picturesque whenever Al Pacino speaks. The language, too, is so rich although it might be offensive if spoken by anyone else. It must always be Al Pacino who says those words. If it was someone else’s, those words would just be indecent not indecently beautiful. What Al Pacino has done is captured to the audience’s heart. The sound “HOOOOAAAAH” can still be heard after the film ends,echoing in the film. Many thoughtful dialogues between Slades and Charlie, too, might be repeated in the audience's heart ,especially when Slades says :

“Women? What could you say? Who made’em? God must –ve been a f***ing genius.”

The Colonel knows every women passing by very well. He cannot see but he uses his sense of smell to "watch". I wish one day, I could close my eyes and let my nose, my ear and my soul "watch" women like him.