***spoiler alert***
"Dream is not that which you see while sleeping it is something that does not let you sleep”.-----Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam
I surely hope to get to that point someday in life but right now the subject of discussion is not me, but the movie which I watched based on a true story. Its called October Sky. If you are aware of the book called “Rocket Boys”, you would know where this is leading.
The protagonist of this movie/book is a boy named Homer Hickam, from a small town called Coalwood which produces coal in West Virginia of the US. Set in 1957, the story takes us to a world of Rock N Roll and cold war of Russia and the US that got triggered with the launch of first man-made satellite Sputnik.
Our boy Homer watches Sputnik orbit Earth one night and dreams of building a rocket one day.
**All dreams were once called a stupid man’s fantasies.**
Homer doesn’t want his life to end up in coal mines digging coal. The teacher at Big Creek High, Miss Riley, inspires Homer by telling about a certain National Science Fair which on winning gets themselves full scholarships for the college. So our lead character Homer and his friends O’Dell, Quentin, Roy Lee are all set up to build an actual functioning rocket. After a lot of efforts, these boys come up with a rocket and its firing is witnessed by many from town and school that the local police allege them for starting up a forest fire with their rocket. So, here they are, back to square one, only with shattered dreams, a school dropout and a coal mine to dig.
Completely dejected and losing all hopes for getting into a college or flying a rocket, Homer works in the mine. At this point, Miss Riley once again asks him not to give up on this endeavor and no matter what, she is proud of him. This triggers him and he starts working on the project again and proves everyone that it wasn’t their fault for the forest fire to break.
**Never Give Up **
The story ends with Homer and his friends successful and getting a college scholarship.
Now, apart from the plot of the movie, you surely will enjoy the music that plays in background and the West Virginia accent which has phrases like “See Y’all” et al. And the role of Homer’s father is what the next best thing in the movie after Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance. All in all, it makes us dream and those who already have, it surely takes us back to memory lane of our struggles and how we overcame them.
A great entertainer and thought provoking movie-October Sky!
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