One of my favorite movies of all time is an animated piece by Brad Bird (The Simpsons, The Incredibles) called The Iron Giant (1999). It was an insanely great story about a kid growing up in Rockwell, Maine during the height of the Cold War in the late 50's who befriends a crashed giant robot who fell to earth. The robot has a dent in his head and seems to suffer from amnesia. After a time together, the kid teaches the robot about things like life and death and morality with the aid of comic books featuring Superman and a villainous robot named Atomo.
Towards the end of the movie, it becomes apparent that the robot had a war like nature built to him as his dent is popped out, he thinks his new friend Hogarth is dead, and the US Army is attacking him. He goes into a furry of what we assume is his original mission, to attack and destroy with lasers and death rays that look deeply inspired by the aliens in War of the Worlds. Hogarth, still alive, stands in front of the giant's arm (now a giant gun) and tells him he doesn't have to do this; "wait, stop! It's bad to kill, guns kill, and you don't have to be a gun, you are what you choose to be... you choose... .choose.." The giant snaps out of his attack mode, puts the guns away and realizes his situation.
In the end, the giant gives his life to save the people of the town and stop their imminent destruction. Remembering the words Hogarth taught him, he makes his choice to be like Superman and do the right thing. As he approaches the falling missile headed for the town, he closes his eyes and smiles before the explosion is seen in the sky from Hogarth and the townspeople.
The movie is about change and choosing your path, despite your original programming. We don't have to be the victims of our past, we have a choice.
I choose Superman.
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Thanks John, Glad your kid liked it. It's one of my favorite movies of all time.
When I was a kid growing in a remote town in Mexico, I use to watch this show but I guess I was so little and I didn't have conciouness about the meaning of such amazing history, I didn't know back then that I can reprogram myself to be a better person, to not be the victim, to chose a better way to live and dream until a few years ago, that was kind of a click on my head, that told me I was tired of suffering of old wonds but today I can tell what exactly happend to me when that click happend... I got smart, I got to the real me that is better person since then. Thanks to the writer of this story to bring us something this touching to learn to teach to our own kids...
Thank you...
PS: Always there's a room for a new learning...
Seeing this post a few days ago it prompted me to go find this movie. Definitely one of my favorites. Josh and I watched it tonight. Amazingly he enjoyed it. The animation is not the style that grabs young kids attention these days, but he loved the robot and the boy etc. Fun times.