His dreams behind the cowboy suit

Sometimes you have to analyze the nature of others to analyze yours.


A mob boss and a shrink. One engaged in mafia schemes, the other in ginko biloba and ibuprofen overdoses. Without a doubt, both had completely different worlds, but actually shared the same story of loss: the death of their fathers--their heroes.

The comic movie Analyze That (2002, directed by Harold Ramis) seriously confused me whether my tears were brought by crying over Paul Vitti's (Robert De Niro) tragic story, or by laughing off my seat on how he comically hugged his therapist Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal) while crying, looking like 10-year-old kids who just lost their teddy bears. This is the very first movie I watched which taught me how to analyze deeper, that the conflict in any story is not about the entrance of villains, but about their own stuggles with their identities because after all, bad guys never wanted to be one.

Convicted mob boss Paul Vitti (De Niro) itched to get out of Sing Sing Prison, with the Rigazzi mafia trying to kill him. He ended up with a brilliant plan involving West Side Story songs, a catatonic behavior and his therapist Ben Sobel (Crystal). He got his runaway ticket and stayed in Ben's house for everyday therapy.


Paul's story reflect on the Nature vs. Nurture principle. When he was a kid he'd wanted to be a cowboy because his father, also a mob boss, bought him the whole outfit and even made him ride a pony. But then when he was 12 he saw his father murdered right in front of him. All his father's dreams for him as a hero, and not as a mob boss like him, had vanished, with Paul joining the mob since then.

Ben, on the other hand, was freshly grieving for his father and struggled to "reform" the mob boss. As he was "staring into a big hole that he can't fill up", he realized the "assignment" wasn't really a burden; but an eye-opener showing  the effects and implications after one loses a father.


The movie did not only entertain because of its smart and hilarious lines, but also taught a lesson that bad guys, once upon a time, got their own heroes and dreams, too.

"There's a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we're half way there.
Hold my hand and I'll take you there
Somehow,
Someday,
Somewhere!"

Thank you to my mentor, Ms. Josephine Bonsol, for teaching me how to analyze that.