“October Sky” is an inspirational film adapted from a true story. It is set in a small American town in the 1950s and tells the story of a group of teenagers who have dreams of space travel and bravely pursue their dreams. It is suitable for all dream chasers.
What is the movie about?
The story takes place in Coal River, a small town in West Virginia that makes its living from coal mining. The 17-year-old Homer lives in the coal mining world controlled by his father, John Hickam, who is the leader of the mine and hopes that Homer can inherit his father’s business.
At this time, the Soviet Union successfully launched the world’s first artificial satellite. In the context of the Cold War, this event caused a huge response in the United States. People in the town gathered together to watch the satellite passing through the night sky. The satellite not only left a beautiful mark in the sky, but also ignited the dream in Homer’s heart.
He didn’t want to be like his father, who only cared about what was underground but not what was outside the sky. So he decided to build a rocket himself. After trying to blow up his own fence with gunpowder, he decided to recruit the unpopular geeks in the class into the team. They had no professional knowledge, lacked funds, and faced doubts and opposition from the school, family and small town residents. But the teenagers relied on their love for rockets, read books, and conducted repeated experiments to continuously improve the design of rockets. In the process, they encountered countless failures and were even mistakenly identified as the cause of forest fires and investigated.
However, Homer never gave up his dream. After careful calculations, he determined that his rocket could not reach the fire site. Homer and the top student secretly collected evidence to clear his guilt. He participated in the science fair as he wished and received a scholarship.
This is a true story. The four prototype characters in the movie all left the small town. The male protagonist Homer became a rocket engineer for NASA after graduating from college.
“Sometimes a dream is enough to light up the whole sky.”
In the small town of Coal River, coal mining is the industry that people rely on for survival. The miners’ lives are monotonous and full of dangers. The residents of the town are content with the status quo and are skeptical of new things. Homer’s rocket dream seems out of place in such an environment. He not only has to face technical difficulties, but also has to bear the pressure from family and society. His father’s misunderstanding and opposition represent the conflict between the traditional lifestyle and the emerging dream;
What touched me most about the movie was that Homer, like most of us small-town youths, had never seen the outside world, but he met a truly good teacher who encouraged him, guided him, told him how vast and beautiful the world outside was, and encouraged him to never give up on his ideals.
I think everyone needs such guidance, so that children can stand on the shoulders of adults to see a greater and more beautiful world, and let them understand that the world you see is not your destiny.
Ending: Dreams blossom and reconciliation
Homer won a grand prize in the national science competition, got the opportunity to go to college, successfully left the small town, and opened a new chapter in his life. His rocket team partners also found their future directions. As for Homer and his father, through Homer’s persistence and hard work, his father finally understood and recognized his dream. At the end of the film, the father came to the launch site to watch Homer launch the last rocket. The reconciliation and hug between the father and son brought the whole story to a perfect end.
