This weekend, thanks to my good friend Netflix, I watched a movie called Martian Child starring John Cusack. Cusack plays a science fiction writer, recently widowed who decides to adopt a young boy who believes he is from Mars.
The movie lacks a plot, but the love, patience and compassion shown by Cusack's character in an effort to make his new son comfortable in his foreign surroundings is beautiful to watch.
I was ready to write off the movie as lacking a focus, until I watched the DVD special features (an obsession I inherited from my mother). On the special features there is a segment called "The Real Martin Child" in which it is revealed this movie is based on an award winning short story written by David Gerrold, which tells the real life story of David and his adopted son Sean.
The segment features both David and Sean describing their first years together as father and son. Almost every quirk the little boy has in the movie was based on Sean's real life habits. In closing, Sean (who looks about 20 years old in the clip) says he hopes the making of this movie inspires people to make the world safer for children. Awwww. My heart is melting.
Moral of the story: You can't go wrong with John Cusack and always check out the special features. Sometimes they are better than the movie itself.
