The Real Meaning of Spielberg's Fantasy Masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (28 October 2002)

I saw ET at the premiere in 1982 and have not seen it since then until I picked up the DVD set a few days ago. Without too much embellishment I have the same feeling for it now that I did then: this is one of the best motion pictures ever made. How could I have remembered every scene from 2 decades past, nearly every significant word of dialog, every note of the score, if it had made no impression on me from the first viewing? Because it went straight to the parts of me that define me as HUMAN. It would be pointless to over-critique ET; small and trivial aspects of it have lost their luster. So there is an ATARI console, so Drew Barrymore has taken on less sweet roles as an adult. The cheesy effects in The Wizard Of Oz do nothing to detract from the essence of the film. In this case the essence is the same: Home. It is a word that is as intangible to define as freedom or truth or....faith. "Phone home" he says, "There's no place like home." says Dorothy. THIS is the essence of the movie...it does not take a Roger Ebert or Leonard Matlin to uncover this fundamental (and yes, sentimental) truth. Spielberg captured all that was possible to capture on film about the nebulous nature of needing to be home. For each of us, for every human being, there is a place we call home. It may not be the place we live now, or it may not even exist anymore except in our memory, perhaps we shall never find such a place. But we all know what it shall be like when we are there. Spielberg's film says that the concept of home is not only a human desire, but perhaps even a universal one as well.
I think he is right.
I believe if you don't understand or feel these feelings after viewing then somewhere along the road of your life you have lost some part of your humanity. True,it is just a movie. And Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is just another song. And The Last Supper is just another fresco...