Recently, with my class, we watched October Sky. This movie is about a boy named Homer Hickam trying to fulfil his dream of building rockets. One night a Russian space craft called Sputnik flew overhead and this is what made Homer so fascinated by outer space. His father, Mr. Hickam, would rather have him working in the local mine like all of the other boys do when they're finished with school. However, Homer would instead want to finish school and go off to college earning a degree. At first, Homer and his friends try rocket building as a fun activity. Then, their teacher, Miss Riley, suggests that they go into the science fair. At first the boys just let that roll right off their backs but then they started to consider it. When Homer considered joining the science fair, he knew he would have to work harder on his math skills and the overall structure of the rocket. Therefore, him and his friends decided to get Quentin, the extremely smart student, to help them with this project. Unfortunately, throughout this movie, many difficult situations arise and cause many problems.
First of all, when the boys were building the rocket, it went shooting all over the place, causing it to explode unexpectedly in the wrong places. For example, they hit the mine. This caused Homer's father to be very angry, and they could not test their rocket on mine property anymore. But, they were not about to give up. The boys hiked eight miles off the mining camp to come to a barren place. There, they built a small hut so they could watch their rocket fly from a safe distance. In addition, during one of their rocket launches, the rocket soars into the air but they don't know where it landed. Later on, a forest fire occurs. The principal, Mr. Turner, gets the cops to arrest the four boys because he did not like their idea of rocket building to begin with. Plus, he thinks it's a dangerous and foolish activity to be doing. After Homer, Quentin, Roy, and O'Dell are told they can no longer progress with this, they think of a way to fight back. Quentin and Homer go into the woods and use their calculations to find where the rocket missile landed. When they found it, it proved that they were not the ones who set the forest fire. Furthermore, in Miss Riley's class, Homer went up to the blackboard and showed Mr. Turner, using math, that they were completely innocent and had nothing to do with the forest fire. Unable to argue, Mr. Turner agreed to let the boys begin working again. However, during all of this commotion, Mr. Hickam still disapproved of Homer joining the science fair. Homer still did not want to do mining because there were many health dangers. You could get black lung disease or worse. Although he was good at it, his heart wasn't into it. Finally, when Homer goes to the science fair in another state, he is excited and ready to win. He set up his table and was ready to go. Unfortunately, the next day when he came into the gymnasium, his display was gone. Homer had two days until he had to show the judges what he brought. He called his family on the phone and told them what happened and they said they'd bring him another model in time for the presentation. Exactly as they said, Homer received the model just in time, impressing the judges and winning first prize. Nobody would've guessed that a boy from the little town of Coalwood would make it big in the science field. Even though Mr. Hickam was upset that Homer chose science over mining, he eventually became proud of his son for what he had accomplished.
Second of all, the character education traits, CARES, (cooperation, assertion, respect, empathy, and self-control), were a big part of this film. For example, the boys showed cooperation because they all worked together to build a rocket that would shoot up into the sky for miles. Plus, assertion was showed in this movie because Mr. Turner banned the boys from working on their rockets and showed he had the power to do that. Also, respect was showed because whenever Mr. Hickam would start to get angry at Homer for what he was doing Homer would automatically listen and do what he was asked. Additionally, empathy was not displayed in October Sky by Mrs. Hickam because she said she wouldn't even shed a tear if her husband was going to get killed in the rough conditions at the mines. Lastly, self-control was not shown by Mr. Hickam because he would yell at Homer for not joining the mines like every other boy in Coalwood.
In my opinion, the movie October Sky would be a great movie for any person to see. It would be a great film because it teaches you that it is possible to accomplish anything. Even if you're parents want you to go in another direction you should do what you feel will make you successful. You should be the commander of your own life and can achieve anything. This movie has greatly impacted my perspective and I will take message in extreme pride.
I received my picture from: http://www.horreur.net/img/October_Sky_aff.jpg
