Spielberg | 1982 | USA

I know that I must’ve watched this a lot as a kid but I have no single memory of ever watching the whole thing through and so, rather improbably, this is my ‘first watch’. A blind spot I was correcting as I prepare for Disclosure Day and not one that I expected to affect me the way that it did. Suffice to say, this made me feel things.

You see, I became a father to a boy just a smidge over five years ago. In a previous century, I was a little boy myself. My memories of this time are troubled by the role adults played in my life through those years, up to and including the adult bully who plagued my high school years. But I was, for sure, a little boy with the built-in thirst for adventure.

Parenthood has forced me to confront my boyhood through an inescapable duality – I see my son and at the same time I see myself as my father would have seen me. This film presented me with a boy who is my son and also me, and he encounters adults who understand him and want to help; adults who give the benefit of the doubt. Considering how significantly this differed to my own experiences, it moved me deeply and made me hope the world will better accommodate my son as he grows up.

Naturally, this take is highly idiosyncratic to myself, but it wouldn’t land if the movie itself wasn’t excellent. Tightly paced and delightfully whimsical, these two hours feel like 80min- and yet there’s more character development here than you’d get in an 8 part Netflix series. Even Mike’s gang of friends have distinct personalities.

The first time Elliot and E.T. take flight on the bike, Elliot is initially afraid. “Not so high!” he yells, but the thrill overtakes him only a moment later and he yells “go higher!” My childhood made me timid for a long time, but parenthood has me wanting to fly higher.