Woody Allen’s Zelig is a hilarious mockumentary from 1983. It is an allegory about conformity, too, and focuses in on the amusing idea that an individual should be so obsessed with conforming and not standing out that he should actually begin to physically transform into other people. The movie is constructed with old-fashioned footage and looks like a vintage documentary, complete with newsreel footage from the 20s and 30s. Allen inserted himself to the footage via blue screen technology and simulated damage to new footage, just like Robert Rodriguez did in Planet Terror last year, to give the film the out-of-date look.
Allen stars as Leonard Zelig, a man who has the ability to change his appearance to that of the people surrounding him. If Zelig is surrounded by overweight people, he will begin to become overweight. If he is amongst doctors, Zelig becomes a doctor. The transition causes him to lack any actual self-identity and, instead, he is dubbed the “human chameleon.” Much is made of this unique condition and he is eventually taken into a psychiatric institution for study. He is studied by Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow), who eventually begins to fall for Zelig.
Fletcher and Zelig’s relationship appear to give Leonard a way out of his constant transformation and he eventually becomes comfortable having his own thoughts, appearances, and opinions. At first, Leonard goes too far in the other direction as he begins to squabble and physically fight with others who think differently than he does. A simple conversation about the weather leads to fisticuffs in a hilarious segment. Eventually, Zelig evens out after an interesting and side-splitting run-in with the Nazis told via archival footage and some incredibly amusing editing.
Zelig is a downright hilarious movie, but it also makes a very compelling point about human nature. Like all of Allen’s work, there is a lot of intricacy beneath the surface. He mines philosophy, psychology, human nature, and literature to make his point. Some critics have considered Zelig to be one of Allen’s “absurd comedies,” but is there anything less absurd than the general point he is making here? The notion that people try to conform and subsequently morph into those they are imitating is not unlike many a cocktail party or public gathering amongst strangers. If several others have read Moby Dick, we don’t want to seem like the odd one out so we feign interest and may even pretend to have read it.
In my view, Zelig is one of Allen’s finest films because he captures the nature of humanity so well. In a crowd, most of us aim to fit in to a preposterous degree. Sporting events feature humans in a display of solidarity by wearing the same colours. Parties feature dress codes. Events feature people that look alike and, for the most part, even sound alike. Is the notion of Leonard Zelig that strange? No, it is not. It is because of normal foundation of Zelig that Allen is able to go one step further and have Leonard become fat, Asian, African American, Scottish, and so on. It’s not that much of a stretch.
The formation of the film is spot-on, too. Allen constructs his film eloquently, delivering a combination of old-fashioned newsreel footage and modern interviews with real people to enlighten us as to times past. We learn about Zelig in the way we would learn about any historical figure of some importance. Patrick Horgan narrates the whole thing with a deadpan seriousness, uttering even the most outlandish lines with a grave tone.
Zelig is a wonderfully funny and surprisingly touching little film. Clocking in at 79 minutes, it’s a short film with staying power. It is not built around one joke, but is rather constructed around the seemingly absurd but rather normal idea that human beings want to conform, sometimes to insane degrees. Allen’s film is a gem, perfecting the mockumentary one year before This is Spinal Tap. Zelig is well worth a look.
9/10
