WHAT MAKES "THE INTERN" A BEAUTIFUL AND IMPORTANT FILM

You could watch it simply as a comedy…a Nancy Meyer (Something's Gotta Give, Father of the Bride, Baby Boom) comedy…it would be plenty enjoyable on that measure alone….

But, “The Intern” has a much more profound message…..it's important!

A 70 year old retired widower is in a routine……he goes to the same Starbuck’s every morning to drink coffee and read the paper alone, plays golf occasionally, takes vacations, yoga classes, etc…but he is not intertwined into the lives of others…at least not in the way he used to when he was married, or when he was working at his job of 40 years as an advertising and sales guy for a phone book company. He is a happy man who visits his son and grandkids on the West Coast from time to time, but there is clearly a void…a great potential is not being realized…a once warm heart is receding into the shadows.

Ben Whittaker (played brilliantly by Robert De Niro) decides to (looking for purpose) apply for a senior intern position at a rising online clothing company near where he lives. Ben could have easily stayed with his routine….a routine that would have left this very gifted and heartwarming man on the sidelines of life….he decided he had more to give, and more to learn…

After a moving application video and some impressive interviews Ben is offered the position as (senior) intern at the Company and shows up in a coat and tie to work as the oldest member of the team (by far). It’s mostly millenials, wearing denim, among the 200 or so employees. In a short time Ben becomes part of the team…he becomes a mentor to younger employees, he develops meaningful relationships with his co-workers…people all like him and he touches their lives….and they touch his….soon, he is assigned to be the intern for the founder of the company, a bright, highly driven, women less than half his age (Anne Hathaway) with a reputation for being difficult. Before long she becomes very trusting and he becomes very invested in her happiness and success….. just when she needed it most in her life, and with some encouragement, Ben becomes an unofficial adviser to her complex and slightly out of control business and personal life…..he guides her through a very difficult phase …and he truly cares…he becomes, as she describes it, her “best friend”.

Just a short time before, Ben was accountable to no one…..no one expected much from him…he was going about life as a “retired” person….a couple of weeks later he is almost indispensable to many people in his workplace….he cares, he leaves a very warm and wise footprint in their lives…and he proves, that he has much more love to give—love that he thought would go “unused”. He has re-routed and re-purposed his life.

Ben became intertwined into the lives of dozens of people….they all became happier as a result.

And to think…what if Ben didn’t venture out into those waters? What if he didn’t apply for the intern position? Think of the beautiful human connections that would never have been realized….looking back, it would have been a tragedy…

How many unknown “tragedies” are occurring in our lives because we didn’t (get out there) and interact with others, connect with others? How many people are out there who would benefit from knowing you and you, in turn, from knowing and investing in them?

We are defined by the opportunities, even the ones we miss” - F. Scott Fitzgerald