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Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Stand by Me’

4/9/2023

Written by John Edward Betancourt

When we think about the concept of childhood as a whole, we always ponder upon it with rose colored glasses, and with good reason. Because we all firmly believe that this time in all of our lives is one filled with innocence, where we see the world in beautiful fashion, where the possibilities for our future are endless and well, while that’s a wonderful way to look at this formative time in a person’s life, it is in fact, an incorrect perspective of youth.

Because, children go through hardships and traumatic moments as they grow into young adults and teenagers, and somewhere along the line, that innocence we so cherish is lost forever when we start to understand how tough a place the world is, and while that may seem cynical, it’s just harsh truth really but it doesn’t detract from the fact that childhood does feature a sense of wonder, and the power of that wonder is what drives many a story involving children and young adults and teenagers to stay in cheery territory. But there are plenty of other tales out there that focus upon the tougher parts of growing up and being a kid, and what it is like to feel that innocence fade away and one such story that has always stayed with me when it comes to those elements, is Stand By Me.

Now the plot of this particular film, is a simple one to say the least, since it revolves around four young men in 1959 who make the decision to hike out into the woods to find the body of a missing kid in order to become heroes and really, there’s no need to discuss the plot any further than that, because this motion picture offers so much more storytelling wise because their journey into the wild is in fact, a coming of age story, one that shows us the end of innocence for these characters as they come to discover that the world is a tough place, and that life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows.

Of course, we could spend hours and days breaking down every single powerful moment that demonstrates this fact, but that’s not really what makes this film so incredibly powerful. No, the true magic of this film, comes from how it more or less encapsulates those important moments of discovery that we all went through. The wonder we felt when we enjoyed a taste of independence from our parents, or the surprise and empathy that surged through our veins when we realized our friends were struggling in life, all of that is on display here and it makes this film supremely relatable and hopeful in its own right because, if we made it through this weird time of discovery in our lives and came out the other side okay so will these kids.

Granted, I’m sure some of you are raising an eyebrow over that assessment since this film revolves around death since it is someone’s passing that starts our story, and someone’s passing that unites the group, so how on earth can that be uplifting, but bear with me for a moment. Because when you think about it, this story takes the time to look less at how death and grief can harm us and spends more time looking at how we celebrate life and how loss can drive us to do good things. After all, the boys do eventually report the deceased body they came to find, giving closure to a grieving family and our narrator looks fondly upon the memories he shared with the fallen, reminding us to cherish every moment in life since at some point, we will all fade away and at no one point does this reflection upon death become downtrodden or dark and that’s just wonderful to say the least.

If anything, this is a film that serves up a slice of life, and to further enhance your viewing experience, it’s funny, it’s charming and it’s heartfelt and in many ways a modern classic since it’s timeless really. Sure, it’s set in the 1950’s, but the messages and the experiences transcend the era and this is a film that I revisit often for all of those reasons and really, if by chance you haven’t seen this one, you need to as soon as possible since it really has a message for everyone thanks to the many layers it provides the audience with and also because, it’s just a damn good movie, with a quality story that flat out sucks you in.

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