My dad and I do not look one bit alike, but I did get one distinguishable trait from him: his love for movies. My own admiration began when I was a kid, when he would take my brother and me to see the big new movie.
I loved the hours spent in the cold, dark theater, but my favorite part of these outings began when the movie ended. My dad would take us out to eat (Chipotle, California Pizza Kitchen, Portillo's) to review and discuss the movie - what our favorite scenes were, which of our predictions had been right and who our favorite characters were.
At some point during that conversation, my dad would switch from mindless, excited ramblings to the message of the movie. He'd ask us questions that would make us think - and would make me either reassess or reaffirm my concept of life.
"Why does the hero win in the end?"
Because he was chosen.
"And who was he chosen by?"
God.
"Exactly."
This has been our routine throughout the years, and although so many things in my life have changed, one thing remains the same. My dad will always help me see great movies for more than what they appear to be.
"The Dark Knight Rises," loved by both of us equally, is one such example.
And like all genius movies, it is a reflection of life.
The villain Bane - a tyrant set on destroying a city under the pretext that he's fixing it - is not so fictional after all. And those who originally think that a world without order, without structure, without justice is an improved one, soon learn that his words - the web of lies and false promises - are worth far more fear than Bane himself.
But its ending, riddled with hope, is what stays with me the most. For the most powerful movies are the ones in which you recognize your world, your life and yourself, where one moment can reach you, touch you and stay with you for years to come.
One of those moments comes in the form of a quote from Tom Hanks, who, after years of being "cast away," finally finds his way home.
It is this famous quote that my dad reminds me of time and again, and it is this quote that will stay with me for good.
The comfort of movies is found in the certainty of them. That even when you don't know what's going to happen, you trust that the right thing will happen. Life doesn't offer us that same grace.
But what it does give us is one more day, one more chance.
After all, "tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?"
- Katie Hughes of Hinsdale is a senior at the University of Georgia. Readers can email her at [email protected].
