Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​While our society has progressed in a great many ways over the past twenty years or so, where so much about our lives, choices and identities are now being readily accepted by the masses, it still seems as though that Divorce is about as taboo a subject as it gets. Because sadly, the end of a marriage for whatever reason, more or less symbolizes failure and no one wants to talk about that. But we should, because Divorce is a common thing in our world and there is a lot of strife that goes with it for everyone involved and while it remains taboo, there was a film that dug into all the harrowing details that surround such a choice in 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer.
 
Ted Kramer is a man who seemingly has it all. He’s got a great job with an advertising firm that adores his work. He has a wonderful son and a nice apartment in New York, and really, there’s just one problem with his magnificent life; his wife, Joanna, is ready to leave him. She simply cannot take the rigors of married life anymore and needs to figure her life out and leaves one evening, putting Ted in quite the quandary. Because now he must figure out how to help his son cope with his mother’s abscense, and he has to juggle raising his boy and working at a job that demands a lot of out of him and most importantly, he has to figure out how to heal the pain in his own heart as well.
 
This is another one of those motion pictures that clearly comes from a different era simply because, it’s all about the characters here. What I liked a lot about this film is the sheer fact that it focuses heavily on the mundane parts of our day to day lives, and how hard all of that becomes when our routine is rattled and in this case, Ted’s world is turned upside down with Joanna walking out on him and it’s just fascinating and heartbreaking to watch him do his damndest to be a good father and make mistakes that you know he simply isn’t forgiving himself for, even though he’s learning how to be a single dad on the fly.
 
But what truly makes this story shine, is the acting present in this film, because such delicate subject matter requires incredible talent to sell every single tough moment and Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep shine in their respective roles of Ted and Joanna through and through. In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of another role in Hoffman’s illustrious career where he truly transforms himself into an everyday joe in this fashion and Streep, well as always, she is lights out when she is on the screen and while her role is limited, her acting chops allow for Joanna to go on a complete and realistic journey in this tale. 
 
In the end, I think what I truly appreciated about this film is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything bigger than what it is, nor does it have a message to cram down our throats. It’s simply a slice of American life, and it features the ups and downs that we are sometimes forced to experience and for anyone who is a child of a divorce or has gone through one, there are some moments here that resonate with you, and give you pause. Either way, this is a damn good motion picture, one that captivates you from beginning to end and it is, in my humble opinion, a must see.  

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