Ways of increasing social interaction: what can we learn from Otto?

There are many and various ways of increasing our social interaction; volunteering, joining clubs or groups, taking a class in a subject that interests you, attending social get-togethers, making more of an effort with family and friends; the list is endless. But sometimes the answer can be right under our nose without realising it. 

This is illustrated rather graphically in the film ‘Call me Otto’ which has Tom Hanks in the lead role.

Otto is a widower and a grump. He lives on his own in suburban Pittsburgh and is a bit of a pedant, policing his local street for people who park badly or enter what is a private road when they shouldn’t. After retiring from a steel company he decides to take his own life.

His first attempt is to hang himself, but he gets interrupted by the arrival of new neighbours, a couple from Mexico, Marisol and Tommy plus their two children. Marisol is pregnant and an effusive person.

We see flashbacks to Otto’s past, meeting his wife-to-be Sonya for the first time on a train, and throughout the film we see more flashbacks when it becomes clear that their love is deep and lifelong.

Otto’s second attempt at suicide, carbon monoxide poisoning, is interrupted by Marisol who needs Otto’s help to drive husband Tommy to the hospital after he fell from a ladder lent to him by Otto. He agrees to this request but not with much enthusiasm.

We also meet two more of Otto’s neighbours, Anita and Reuben. Otto and Reuben were once close friends but fell out badly over an argument over who had the best car (a Ford or a Chevvy). Reuben is now a Parkinson’s sufferer and sits immobile all day in a wheelchair.

The third suicide plan is to jump in front of a train. As he prepares to do so a fellow passenger faints and falls onto the tracks, so Otto rescues him. His bravery is captured by other passengers on their ubiquitous mobiles, gets logged on social media and goes viral. Otto meets a social media journalist who tries to interview him over the incident but he refuses.

Back in the neighbourhood Marisol persuaded Otto to give her driving lessons. He reluctantly agrees but when Marisol takes notice of his driving advice Otto begins to cheer up a little and takes her to a bakery where he and his wife Sonya used to visit once a week, giving him a chance to reminisce. 

We then see Otto meeting Malcolm, a newspaper boy who annoys him by throwing papers on the pavement. Despite this Malcolm informs Otto that Sonya was his teacher and how much he liked her. Otto and Malcolm become friends when Otto fixes Malcolm’s bicycle. Otto has another attempt at suicide using a shotgun he had stored in his loft, but he gets interrupted by Malcolm who has been thrown out of his house by his father, so Otto allows him to spend the night.

Otto discovers that an attempt is being made to remove Rueben into a nursing home against his wife Anita’s wishes. He decides to try and prevent this and asks Marisol to help him. She refuses unless Otto tells her why he is so unhappy. It turns out that Sonya was paralysed in a bus accident and had a miscarriage. She was subsequently denied good access to their neighbourhood so Otto has held a grudge for a long time over the real estate company who made life difficult for her.

With Marisol now onside they engage the social media journalist in a campaign to prevent Rueben from being removed from his home. Otto is now really fired up, in fact transformed from the character we saw at the beginning of the film. He takes his fight to help Rueben to the social media airwaves and wins, hands down. He is a different person. The story shows us graphically how engaging with others and helping them can be beneficial not just to the recipient but to the giver.

Do you know any Ottos? Do you have any thoughts prompted by this story? Do share them with us