Zelig

Zelig (1983) is a comedy by Woody Allen, in which the director's characteristic humor, his passion for jazz and his obsessions (sex, psychology, identity, society). Treated as a mockumentary, the film has been recognized by critics for its technical and acting innovations.

Synopsis

The story takes place in the late 1920s when a strange man begins to attract public attention due to his repeated appearances in different places in different guises. This man, Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen), has the supernatural ability to change his appearance by adapting to the environment in which he operates, for which he is known as the chameleon man. Based on these data, he begins to narrate his story, including testimonies and presentation of the facts, in the form of a documentary, from different witnesses to the events. Among them, that of the psychoanalyst Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow), a persistent and somewhat ambitious woman who seeks to analyze Zelig's mental state not only because of his vocation, but also to achieve his own recognition. Dr. Fletcher comes to discover in Zelig an extreme case of insecurity that leads him to camouflage himself among people, adapting his appearance to be accepted (when he mixes with Jewish people he grows beards and ringlets, when he mixes with black people his skin and even their tone of voice change...). From there, the relationship between Zelig and Eudora becomes more special until they develop a romance between them, as Zelig makes progress in recovering him.

The script for this film, originally by Woody Allen, was translated into Spanish by Jaime del Leal and Ariel Collazo, published by Tusquets in 1984 and later reissued.

Historical context

The different situations experienced by Leonard Zelig lead the story to take place in places as diverse as Hitler's Nazi Germany or the mansion of William Randolph Hearst, the magnate parodied by Orson Welles in Citizen Kane. The historical time is located between the 1920s, going through the economic depression in the United States, World War II and contemporary times (circa 1968), where the testimonies of people are collected.

Technique

There are outstanding special effects such as a sequence in which Woody Allen is superimposed on a film of Adolf Hitler, similar to the one applied eleven years later by Robert Zemeckis in his Forrest Gump (1994), when the main character meets John F. Kennedy and John Lennon among others.

To achieve a dirty image that looked like old movies, technicians stomped on the tapes and made them dirty, achieving the required effect.