october sky is a rare oddity in cinema : a self - proclaimed " uplifting " film that is actually uplifting !
based on the autobiographical book by homer hickam , rocket boys , october sky tells the struggle of four boys reaching for their dream .
it 's 1957 , and for the boys of coalwood , west virginia , there 's not much hope of a rosy future .
coalwood is a coal mining town , and , except for the few lucky ones who manage to escape on a football scholarship , most of coalwood 's boys are destined to work in the mine .
but , in october 1957 , an event happens that sparks one boy to dream .
the launch of the soviet satellite sputnik sets homer hickam ( jake gyllenhaal ) to dream a future of rocketry and space travel .
of course , homer 's parents ( chris cooper and natalie canderday ) are n't quite sure what to make of their son 's unusual interests .
homer gets his strongest encouragement from miss riley ( laura dern ) , a teacher in his school who also informs him about the scholarships offered to the winners of a national science fair .
and so , with stars in his eyes , and thoughts of scholarships in his head , homer enlists the help of three other boys ( william lee scott , chad lindberg and chris owen ) and begins to build a rocket .
but , do
these four backwoods boys even have the slightest hope of escaping their destiny ?
there is a lot that could have gone wrong with october sky .
nearly every sequence flirts with becoming syrupy and cliched .
however , miraculously , october sky
avoids nearly all of these pitfalls , making the exact right moves at the exact right times .
a film emerges which manages to be powerful and moving without slipping into the gauzy haze of nostalgia or sliding down the sugarry slope of sappiness .
jake gyllenhaal is outstanding as the kid at the center of this film .
> from the outset of the film , he is immediately likable , and never seems too corny or brainy as to alienate the audience .
unfortunately , while october sky focuses on homer , the other three kids get the short end of the stick .
they remain little more than placeholders reading " insert friend here " .
of the adults in the film , chris cooper is the most fully realized character .
the film never paints him as merely the villainous parent standing in the way of his child 's dreams , but , instead , shows the multihued portrait of a man who wants the best for his family and town , but is too stubborn to realize what that is .
director joe johnson deserves much credit for successfully navigating the many obstacles that october sky manages to dodge .
however , there are still a few occasions when he allows things to proceed just a step too far .
scenes which were natural and inspiring start to become contrived and artificial .
however , these lapses are minimal , and johnson quickly steers the movie back on course .
the problem with many so - called " uplifting " films is that they attempt to force their mediciney goodness down your throat .
october sky never resorts to that level , and yet , manages to become a truly uplifting film purely on its own merits .
quickly steers the movie back on course manages to become a truly uplifting film purely on its own merits he is immediately likable , and never seems too corny or brainy as to alienate the audience is actually uplifting ! avoids nearly all of these pitfalls , making the exact right moves at the exact right times deserves much credit for successfully navigating the many obstacles manages to be powerful and moving outstanding