Friday, September 24, the movie version of the popular stage musical “Dear Evan Hansen” came out. It has been a well-anticipated movie, and I myself was eager to watch it, wondering if it would be everything I hoped for and more. And it, beyond a shadow of a doubt, exceeded my expectations.

“Dear Evan Hansen,” tells the story of Evan(Ben Platt), who writes a letter to himself as an assignment for therapy. Another troubled boy, named Connor Murphy(C0lton Ryan), takes the letter from Evan when they get into an argument. A couple of days later, Connor takes his own life. Connor’s family comes under the false impression that Connor wrote the letter as a suicide note to Evan Hansen. Evan, not wanting to break their hearts, lies and agrees. The story then follows him as things progress afterward, bonding with Connor’s family, lying, and making things up. 

The movie is very moving because of raw realness. One song, called ‘The Anonymous Ones”, has a quote that really moved me. “The parts we can’t tell, we carry them well, but that doesn’t mean they’re not heavy.” Everyone is carrying some kind of burden, even if you can’t see it. I also appreciated that at the very end, Evan could not completely mend things. It was sad, but the reality is, actions have consequences. Sometimes, people don’t forgive you, or you miss out on things because of mistakes. I think it was really important that Dear Evan Hansen addressed that. 

“Dear Evan Hansen” was a fantastic movie that moved me to tears at many scenes. There was some cursing and some mildly inappropriate jokes that may not be good for children, but it’s a real and beautiful story, and I would definitely recommend you give it a watch.