Brain of Dane

One of the things I love most about movies is how every movie has a unique effect on everyone.  Sometimes a specific line from a movie can embed itself in someone’s memory when everyone else just disregarded it as an insignificant piece of the movie.  The reality to me is that every line, setting, scene, and prop has a significant role in the plot.

I have seen Independence Day at least 5 more times than I can even remember, which is about 20 or 30 more times than is absolutely necessary.  Any time it is on TV, I will usually sit and watch it because it still entertains me even when I quote each line in my head before they say it on screen.  One of the scenes in that movie that struck me recently was the scene in which Russell, the drunk pilot and alien abductee pulls over to the side of the road to let his sick son throw up on the side of the road.  While pulled over, he gets out and looks out at a vast landscape of campers, trailers, and vehicles creating a virtual refugee city.  He then beckons his older son to come over and take a look at the spectacular view.

Independence day is a huge blockbuster that you can either hate or love.  In the midst of aliens coming to earth, entire cities getting obliterated in huge clouds of fire, and America saving the day, it’s hard to remember small scenes like this.  To me however, the story of Russell and his kids is punctuated by this scene in which the future of the human race rests in the hands of the unlikely vagrants and seasoned travellers.  When I see that scene, it gives me a wave of hope that although the cities are lost, America survives.

That scene stuck itself in my memory, and gave me another insight into the plot of the movie.  A lot of people may have seen and remembered that part, but it may not have had the same effect on them.  If anyone is still reading, I would always like to hear about parts of movies that you remember in everyday life, or that made an impact on you while watching a particular movie.  Let me know.