Loss that connects us all

The tragedy of film adaptations is, undoubtedly, something will be lost.

In “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” the film sacrifices an entire plot line that made Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel more than just a work about 9/11. It also sacrifices the fantastic romanticism Foer wrote into every scene.

It’s a movie. It can’t have everything.

Some critics forget this. They fault “Extremely Loud” for exploiting our nation’s tragedy and focus on the plot instead of the story’s meaning.

Thomas Horn plays Foer’s 9-year-old lead character, Oskar Schell, to a T. He takes on Schell’s simple journey of finding meaning in his father’s death and brings the emotional themes the novel was built on: Everyone has loss, everyone keeps secrets, everyone holds the weight of the world on their shoulders.

This story could have been about anything, but it wasn’t. It was about 9/11. So look past that and see the film for what it’s really worth: a damn good child actor and a loss that connects us all.