OCTOBER SKY
This is a nice little story that follows pretty standard Hollywood narrative lines. A boy living in a coal mining town, where everyone in that town is expected to follow into the coal mining business unless they get football scholarships, looks into the October Sky where he sees the Russian satlleite going through the air. While paranoia grips the nation about what the potential of these russian satellites will do to the escalating Cold War, the mining town continues to get on with its business. The film makers are very keen to contrast the binary opposition between the underground (mining) as representative of the past, and the sky as the future. And it is this future that Homer Hickam (I think) wants to locate himself in. But the harsh reality is that building a missile may not mean an end to his pre-written future as a coal miner (his older brother, a talented football player, gets a scholarship and will avoid the mining trap). Miss Freida Riley (Laura Dern) however, inspires Homer and his three mates (one is a book worm nerd that is totally ignored by everyone until Homer befriends him for his insight into science) to build the missile for the Science fair. She tells them that if they win and get into the national finals, they have a fighting chance to get science scholarships. This revelation spurs them on - but unsupporting fathers, many mishaps and other like occurrences get in the way of the boys in achieving the dream (how else are you going to fill the 1.5 hours). The film's ending shots is way too cliched, and it is the only really false note of the film, which has a nice heart to it and tells a straight story without referencing. The fact that these types of movies are a rare breed in Hollywood probably makes them a bit more palatable, but I liked this film - it's the typical Disney live motion picture, but I can't recall if that studio was responsible. If you can't catch it at the movies, the film will not suffer too much on video viewing.
73/100