Father's House Blog

Disney and Pixar have done it again! They’ve combined to create the best Pixar animated movie since Toy Story. For those who are wondering, I’m referring to the extraordinary new film simply called Up.

I don’t want to ruin the story for you, but the bare bones are as follows.

Up focuses on the adventures of a 78 year old balloon salesman called Carl Fredericksen. When his wife dies he realises that their lifelong ambition to take a balloon ride to the jungle location ‘Paradise Falls’ has remained unfulfilled. His years are drawing to an end and he is increasingly restricted, not only by his growing immobility, but also by the contractors who are surrounding his house, wanting him to sell up so they can knock it down and build a skyscraper.

Carl resists all attempts until one day his actions leave him no choice but to vacate the property and go to a residential home. However, not to be defeated Carl ties hundreds of balloons to his house and on the morning of his relocation releases the balloons which lift both him and his house up into the morning sky.

However, there is someone else on board. An eight year old Wilderness Explorer called Russell has previously been calling on Carl in order to acquire the last remaining badge he needs on his uniform - the ‘Assisting the Elderly’ badge. Carl has shut him out up until now, but a knock on his front door thousands of feet in the air reveals that Russell is on board his airborne house as well. So the two make their way to Paradise Falls where many exciting adventures await, not least with a bird called Kevin!

Much has been made of this film by the movie critics. Nearly all agree that the first ten minutes, which depict the entire course of Carl’s relationship with his wife – from their childhood to her death in hospital – are perhaps the most poignant and memorable of any in animated moviemaking. This overture is worth the price of admission alone. I know of no other animated film (not even Wall-E) that manages to elicit so much emotion in its audience – and without dialogue too! It’s a stunning montage that will have you reaching for the tissues.
Having said that, the critics have been less certain about the rest of the film, not least because they are confused about what the film is really about. From my point of view, there’s no obscurity here. The film is about the relationship between the eight year old boy and the 78 year old adventurer, and it’s a study of the impact of fatherlessness on kids.

You see, Russell is a fatherless child. At a point in the plot where Carl wants nothing more to do with him, Russell begins to speak about his dad and it becomes clear that the father whom he loved is no longer present in his life, and that he is without a family and he’s living in care. The look on the old man’s face as he hears this is absolutely stunning. The animators brilliantly convey the sudden transition from tired toleration to profound compassion. Russell’s story of fatherlessness has touched the old man’s heart and from this moment on, his whole attitude begins to change towards the child.

As the film continues, the overriding ambition of the little boy becomes more and more clear. His dream is to earn the final badge of merit as a Wilderness Explorer so that he can stand with pride at his passing out parade in the hope that his dad will be there to pin the award on his chest. Of course, this is a forlorn hope as we – the audience – come to realise. But the child’s dream is greater than the tragic reality and when at last the ceremony occurs, we are not at all surprised to see that while other dads are there to applaud their children, Russell’s is not. But there is someone else there instead. And to find out who, and more importantly why, you will need to go and see this film – my film of the year so far – yourselves!

I highly recommend Up to you. At times it will make you laugh (the talking dogs are hilarious). At times it will make you cry (Carl’s reminiscences of his wife are heart-breaking). The first ten minutes are exceptional, and so is the rest – once you understand what this film is really all about.

For in the final analysis, this is not a primarily a balloon adventure story but a story about our times – about the bereavement that comes not only from the death of a spouse but also from the desertion of a father. It is a memorable exploration of the great sadness in our culture today, where dads are too often absent, and where father substitutes must spontaneously arise to fill the father shaped void in so many hearts. What this film explores in vivid colours and exotic landscapes is the utter indispensability of a father. I can’t think of any film in recent years that has done this more powerfully.

And it is also an amazing parable at a spiritual level too. Let me just leave this thought intriguingly before you. Russell starts this film as a servant who wants to assist the elderly – an old man in the sky. He finishes the film as a son, playing with his surrogate Father on the earth. He moves from being a servant to a son.

That is a journey which everyone ultimately must make.