The Boy Who Could Fly
Sitting by a window, a
teenage boy makes a paper plane. Folding it ever so carefully and meticulously,
he is lost in his own little world. He then throws the plane out his window,
where it gracefully descends and lands in a tree. Right next door, a teenage
girl called Amelia, and her family have just bought a new house. They arrive
with only a few possessions and a large empty house to fill. Heading straight
upstairs for her bedroom, she opens the window to her new bedroom and meets the
boy next door, who sits on the outer ledge of his window directly facing hers.
“Hi” the girls says to him but he says nothing. Instead, he begins to raise his
arms as if impersonating a plane. Still, he says nothing and the girl, her mum
and younger brother look on in confusion.
While the girl tries to
settle in and make some friends at a new school, her younger brother Louis has
troubles of his own. Running into the local bullies down the street, he pulls
out all the army tricks he knows to avoid being captured and beaten up by them.
He happens to be a G.I. Joe fanatic, and rides around on a tactical three
wheeled bike And her mum is still grieving from the death of her husband.
Having to return to full time work, she does her best to keep the family
together.
Meanwhile, the girl
continues to find her gaze drawn to the boy next door. There is something
different about him, that’s for sure. Not only does he never seem to talk, but
he’s constantly sitting outside his window acting like a plane or making paper
planes. Amelia finds out his name is Eric and he is autistic, never having
uttered a word in his life. He’s also an orphan, whose parents died in a plane
crash. Amelia is fascinated to say the least, and given her good natured
personality, approaches the boy who doesn’t talk to anyone try and speak to
him. Once again he doesn’t say anything, but appreciates the fact the girl was
the only one in school who made an effort to communicate with him.
One of Amelia’s school
teachers notices that Eric likes Amelia and that she is making an effort to
engage him. The teacher tells Amelia that she has watched over Eric in the
past, making sure he wouldn’t get put into an institution. She asks Amelia to
help out a bit more and continue to develop her relationship with Eric, because
no doctor has ever been able to reach him. Maybe it will be a special friend.
Amelia accepts the teachers request to spend more time with Eric, and starts to
bring him into the world he shys away from.
The performances of the
two young leads who play Amelia and Eric (Lucy Deakins and Jay Underwood)
really carry this film. Originally made for TV, it could have all been pretty
average, too sappy and sentimental. But the actors make it believable, and it’s
well made. It’s a love story at it’s centre, as Amelia reaches out to Eric, and
Eric helps her heal in her broken family. But there’s also a whimsical sense of
awe and wonder throughout, as Amelia begins to suspect that maybe Eric can fly,
and we the audience watch in anticipation to find out ourselves.
Slowly but surely, Eric’s
interaction with Amelia grows. But all he does is mimic her every move. Still,
he never says a word, and Amelia finds herself succumbing to the peer pressure
of her class mates who mock her for hanging out with “The Dumb Kid”. She feels
like her assistance is going nowhere and is about to give up on the job, when
Eric initiates contact by himself for the first time. He teaches Amelia the
proper way to make a paper plane. From here on, everything they do together has
a theme to it… flying. Together they watch TV shows about planes, read Peter
Pan and fly kites in the park. Their relationship grows, and Amelia is unsure
if Eric is becoming more like her, or she’s becoming more like him. Either way,
she starts to feel something for him. This becomes conflicting for Amelia, as
even as she develops feelings for Eric after spending so much time with him,
the responsibility of it also becomes a burden. And just when she’s at her
breaking point, ready to walk away from Eric, Amelia starts to believe that
maybe Eric can fly.
When we’re young, we like
to believe that anything is possible. We don’t know about limitations, and
what’s deemed as possible or impossible. With this unadulterated imagination
intact, we can dream. Seeing ourselves doing and being things beyond anyone
else’s expectations. We believe there is a secret power inside all of us when
we’re kids, and it’s up to us to figure out what that power is and how to use
it. Eric believes in this power, and so much in fact he will even step out on
the edge of his house roof to prove it. When he proves that he can fly, taking
Amelia by her hand and soaring over the streets and houses, he inspires the
whole town. Eric’s gift is also the inspiration Amelia and her family needed to
move on from their grief and become happier people.
The Boy Who Could Fly is a
quaint little film. It’s harmless fluff, made for the whole family. As a kid I
remember it sparking my imagination, and just watching it again recently, it
still holds up pretty well and could connect with today’s kids just as much I
reckon.
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