October Sky (1999)
Director: Joe Joohnston Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen, William Lee Scott, Chad Lindberg, Natalie Canerday Screenplay: Lewis Colick (book by Homer H. Hickam Jr.) Producers: Larry J. Franco, Charles Gordon Runtime: 108 min. US Distribution: Universal Rated PG: language, alcohol use, thematic elements
Copyright 1998 Nathaniel R. Atcheson
The brilliant opening shots of October Sky present to us Coalwood, West Virginia, a small mining town subtly crushed beneath news that the Soviet Union has launched the first satellite, Sputnik. In Coalwood, every grown man works in the mines, and just about every grown woman is a housewife. The quiet first shots introduce a world very few of us understand -- they show us a group of people who feel helpless against an international force that appears to be technologically superior.
October Sky isn't about the Soviet Union, but the launch of Sputnik inspires a young man named Homer Hickam (Jake Gyllenhaal) to build rockets. He doesn't want to build real rockets (not yet, anyway); he simply wants to create something that shoots into the air. So he rounds up his friends, Roy Lee (William Lee Scott) and O'Dell (Chad Lindberg), hires the class nerd (Chris Owen) to help him with the math, and starts building rockets. This, of course, is not what Homer's father, John (Chris Cooper), wants.
John is one of the head coal miners, and is proud of his job. He wants Homer to work in the mines, just like everyone else, but Homer won't do it -- he wants to go in space. John works against his son, but not out of meanness: he simply resents what his son is trying to do. Meanwhile, Homer and his friends are helped along by Miss Riley (Laura Dern), a high school teacher who gets them to enter a national science fair when it becomes clear that their rockets are successful.
October Sky is an immensely moving film, one that frequently forced me to hold back sobs. It's based on the true story of NASA engineer Homer Hickam, and features one of most colorful arrays of characters to appear in any film in the last few months. Brought to life by inventive direction from Joe Johnston and subtle, layered performances from a wonderful cast, October Sky is that rare teen-angst movie that has all of the necessary pieces for serious drama. Even more odd is that the pieces are properly assembled.
Well, maybe I shouldn't call it a teen-angst movie. On the surface, though, it truly is in the spirit of the recent Hollywood teen flicks. Homer is a teenager for most of the picture, and the film dabbles in the usual assortment of peer pressure and parental conflicts. What sets October Sky apart from the others is . . . just about everything. Superficially, the movie looks great: the aforementioned opening shots are of the best in the film; Johnston is a talented visual artist, and Coalwood is observed in a somber, ponderous tone. The film feels temporally authentic, and, though I was born two decades after the events of this film take place, I felt like I understood it. It made sense to me.
This ties in with the setting; Johnston recognizes what the time period did to the people, and the current events in the background effectively staple the film and hold it together. One of the most interesting moments has the residents of Coalwood standing outside, waiting for Sputnik to pass overhead so they can steal a glance. It's quite a moving moment, and, when Homer sees the satellite, his transition from Indifferent to Rocket Builder is clear and instantaneous: he wants to go into space.
Of course, the transition wouldn't be effective if Gyllenhaal weren't such a terrific actor. I've never seen him before, but he carries the largest role in the film with grace and dignity that most actors his age lack entirely. He also works well with the other actors, particularly Cooper and Natalie Canerday, who plays his mother. Cooper, who was so good in Lone Star, is very powerful here; certainly the most relieving aspect of October Sky is that the father isn't demonized into oblivion, as so many fathers in films like this are. His motives are always clear, and he does do nice things for his son -- the conflict there is real, and it's realized.
The picture works on many levels, but I was most often taken with the little details. Homer's mother has some of the best scenes in the film; her quiet, almost unnoticeable attraction to Myrtle Beach adds to the nice development of her character; the scene in which her husband goes into the mines to save someone shows us a brief moment that speaks worlds about her character: "If he dies in there, I won't shed a tear." Only in a film this good could minor characters be fleshed-out so clearly.
It's necessary that Homer get stopped along the way -- there need to be characters who try and hinder his progress. But there are a few too many; the police arrest him, the school principal doesn't like what he does, his father obstructs him, and the other kids in school all make fun of him. I realize that the story is "based on a true story," but one or two of these frustrating subplots could have been abandoned with no harm done to the story at all. Otherwise, however, October Sky is a truly excellent film. Aside from giving us a brief history lesson on Sputnik, it presents to us a group of characters who earn our sympathy. Based on this film, I feel a little better knowing that the real Homer Hickam is out there working for NASA.
Psychosis Rating: 8/10
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Nathaniel R. Atcheson
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