Film · Prime Video · 1999
October Sky
Keep it. Work, a teacher, a father, and a son who does not despise the mine he refuses.
Homer Hickam wants the sky in a town that measures a man by the shift. The film is excellent because it does not make the father a villain for loving the mine, or the son a saint for leaving it. Miss Riley sees him. The friends build the thing, fail, and build it again. That is industry with a face. The union, the strike, the black dust are not scenery. They are the life the dream is arguing with, and the argument stays filial.
A boy can watch this and come away wanting to do his homework. There are worse results. Say, at the end, that the teacher who stayed late is as much the hero as the rocket.
The eight
Industry
10/10
The rockets are practice, scrap, and more practice.
Household
8/10
A hard father, a loyal mother, a son who comes back.
Piety
4/10
No sermon. A real awe at the work.
Courage
8/10
He keeps launching after the town laughs.
Republic
7/10
A company town, a union, a public that has opinions.
Temperance
7/10
Ambition governed by craft.
Truth
8/10
The mine is not slandered to make the dream pretty.
Stewardship
9/10
It hands a young person the habit of trying the thing again.
Live historicallyHelp one young person finish a hard thing that is not your plan for them.