It's How We Win

We watched Ender's Game tonight. It was one of the most immersive movie experience I've ever had. Ever.

That is all to be said, really.



But I'll expand for my own sake, for later. Spoiler alert? Doubtful, but there it is just in case you really care, Reader.

For several weeks I'd toyed with the idea of being excited about this movie. No, let's be honest, I did get excited. I loved the book. But not like the anticipation for The Hobbit, or Thor. A different kind. Maybe more of a curios excitement. I wondered whether it would satisfy, pass. Or like I learned from my grandpa, in response to a question like is the food good, you can say, Se deja. It works. It's allowable. Something like that. But I also knew it was a hollywood version, acted out by kids, produced and directed by I-didn't-check, and therefore, could very easily go down the road of overkill-poor-child-acting-ridiculous.

But for me at least, it totally worked.

I think a big part of that was having read the book. (I believe, if I remember correctly, I have Jeremy Weaver and a conversation in Bjorn's apartment several years ago to thank for that.) As we discussed the movie afterward, those of us who hadn't read it kind of felt like there were some emptier sections that could've used more filler. And for me, similarly, I could tell there was a lot of summarizing done to fit it into a couple hours or whatever it was (time was lost, I was transported). But that's just fine, normal—book and film are completely different mediums of storytelling. And so, it sucked me in. I was there!

Because knowing (okay, yes, here is a spoiler, sort of) what Ender was really doing as he played those final training games, knowing the cost, knowing how pure of heart he was, and yet how brilliant—knowing all those things tore me up. I'm a little upset by the fact that I was so moved by a sci-fi story, but at the same time I am completely okay with it because this story is brilliant. It's not human like the kids with cancer at the hospital or the drug addicts fighting for their lives and family, but it's almost more human at a deeper level, at a level that we can't reach in our little spheres of life. We will never command a fleet, especially one that whips past planets in the passing lane, especially as a kid, especially as a kid being played.

I wish I could remember their quotes better (or anything better, if I may), when they're talking on the raft on the lake. Stuff about knowing the enemy, and then loving them. And in that moment destroying them. Such a price, such a soulless price. And, too, such loyalty and faith in their commander. Such absolute commitment to the orders of their leader. And, further too, such a fascinating connection between the minds of two great leaders, such an incomprehensible understanding. So freaking good.

There were so many feels at that point onward. Like I said, I was torn up.

And I loved it. Thank you, Gavin Hood, for directing what I consider to be a great film. Thank you, Asa Butterfield, for portraying for me a believable Ender. Thank you especially, Orson Scott Card, for dreaming a brilliant child, a backward story, and three sequential books of redemption. I am a fan.