From: Kris Franklin <klfbooks@rangenet

SECONDHAND LIONS:

Moral Relativism or Absolute Truth

Stan43635@StanWilliams.com

Today I received the following email in response to a review I wrote on the DVD edition of SECONDHAND LIONS.

From: K. F. (an author of children's books)

Date: Fri, 06 Feb 2004 11:36:30 -0800

To: Stan Williams

Subject: SECONDHAND LIONS DVD

Hi Stan

I've seen it (SECONDHAND LIONS) twice. I loved it the first time, but the second time around I found two important problems. First, when Hub gives Walter the "talk" he says "Its important to believe in something with all your heart, whether or not it is true." If this isn't the insidious philosophy of our times, I don't know what is. To believe in something that is not true, no matter how sincere, is to believe a lie. And at the end, the second time, I realized that the implication is that the two uncles committed suicide by "trying to fly through the barn upside down." Fly through the barn? Look at the doors. No one in his right mind would think an airplane could go through that space without total destruction - the implication is obvious if you think about it for more than a fleeting Hollywood second.

I have to give it a thumbs down for rotten presuppositions and promoting the idea that it is ok for old people to take their own lives so they can "go out with their boots on." MY GOD. What a message. I had to see it twice to have this AH-HA. The rest was a blast. But, like Titanic, the message is rotten.

K.F.

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Re: SECONDHAND LIONS DVD

Date: Friday, February 6, 2004 2:47 PM

From: Stan Williams

To: K.F.

Dear K.F.,

When I wrote my first review of the movie, I would have agreed with you about the movie supporting the predominate relative moral philosophy of our times. You wrote to me that the movie (and perhaps you meant Hub) says:

"Its important to believe in something with all your heart, whether or not it is true." If this isn't the insidious philosophy of our times, I don't know what is. To believe in something that is not true, no matter how sincere, is to believe a lie. And at the end, the second time, I realized that the implication is that the two uncles committed suicide by trying to fly through the barn upside down.

That is exactly what I thought the movie was saying the first time I watched it. But we are both wrong. Because of your message's prompting, I realized that although I agreed with you, something was not quite right from my memory. But I didn't know what it was. So, I just now went back to the scene (DVD's are good for this) and transcribed the key scene. It follows below.

To set up this scene, in which the moral premise is presented in explicit form, let's recall that our protagonist, Walter (Haley Joel Osment) has been lied to most of his life, and to him, subliminally, his mom does not love him. He has been dumped off at his uncle's because his mom's "love" is fleeting, her virtue is lost, and she doesn't seem to have the honor or courage to face the truth in her life... to say noting of the men she seems to attract. Some of this is also true of the salesmen and the "relatives" that keep coming after the uncle's supposedly ill got millions. Now contrast that with the two uncles, who are quite the opposite. They are not pretentious, greedy, or immoral, in anyway that the movie reveals. But Walter hasn't put it all together, yet. Now as he and uncle Garth (Michael Caine) sit on the porch one afternoon, they watch Uncle Hub (Robert Duvall) hammering away at his new airplane...the plane that will finally do the uncles in, but not for years to come. Here's the end of that scene and then on into the next.

Walter and Garth watch Hub banging away on the airplane parts in front of the barn door.

Walter

Maybe he doesn't plan to do something crazy.

Garth

Did you ask him about Jasmine? You better make it quick.

EXT. THE POND - NIGHT

A full moon reflects off the water and silhouettes Hub as he stands there in his long nightshirt. She's sleepwalking again, dreaming of his former life in the Foreign Legion...and most likely Jasmine.

Walter brings him a ratty old blanket from the house and carefully puts it over his shoulders -- then slaps him on the back to wake Hub up. Hub wakes up, but not so happily.

After a few words of surprise between them....

Walter

What happened to Jasmine?

Hub turns his back on Walt and gazes back across the water.

Walter

I have to know. I have to.

Hub

She died in childbirth, her and the baby.

Walter

What did you do?

Hub

I went back to the only life I knew, back to the Legion. The next 40 yeas there was always one more war to fight. Then I got old and came here.

Hub turns back to Walter.

Hub

Here I am. Here I am.

Walter seems to be shivering.

Hub

You cold son? You better go inside and get warm.

Walter

Those stories about Africa, about you. They're true aren't they.

[Note: Walter believed the stories Garth had told him to be fiction, but now he's beginning to see that what he believes to be false, may in fact be true. And, as we'll read in a moment, what he believes to be true, may in fact be false. Hub knows this about Walter, and so he says...]

Hub

Doesn't matter.

Walter

Does, too. Around my mom all I hear is lies. I don't know what to believe in.

Hub

Well, if you want to believe in something, believe in it. Just because somethin' isn't true doesn't mean you can't believe in it.

Walter is taken back and confused.

[Is Hub planting a red herring, using reverse psychology, or making an independently verifiable statement? If we stop listening here and believe that Hub is making an independent propositional statement, then we've forgotten what the story is about. But Hub, in his wisdom, knows what Walter thinks is true is false, and what is false is true. Hub, in his wisdom, knows that most young men (like the young thugs in the general store) have misconstrued truth. Hub knows that Walter, based on life with his mom, does not believe in love, virtue, honor or courage. Moralists will have a tendency to take this and a later statement out of the story's context. But that was only the set-up. Now, read what else is said...and remember everything that has happened up to this point in the story.]

Hub

There's a long speech I give to young men. Sounds like you need to hear a piece of it.

Hub collects his thoughts.

Hub

Sometimes, the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the MOST. That people are basically...GOOD. That honor, courage and virtue mean everything. That power and money, money and power mean nothing. That good always triumphs over evil. And I want you to remember this...that love...

Hub starts to cry, but he holds it back.

Hub

...true love never dies. You remember that boy.

Walter tries to take it all in...but it's a lot.

[Let me stop again here to reinforce that Hub explicitly states what is true, even as he knows most young men do not believe it. Thus, his disarming statement that led off the homily "Just because somethin' isn't true doesn't mean you can't believe in it." Hub understands where Walter's heart is at. Us Christians didn't take the statement in context of the story. We ripped it out, and took it by its lonesome. Now there's more, much more, that gets to real truth, and what Walter is about to learn.]

Hub

You remember that. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, you see...a man should believe in those things because those are the things worth believing in.

He locks hold of Walter's eyes.

Hub

You got that?

Walter takes it all in, and smiles gently through teary eyes.

Walter

That was a good speech.

Hub (humbly)

Think so? Thanks. Yeah.

Walter

When are you going to give me the rest of the speech?

Hub

When you're almost a man.

Walter

You promise?

Hub

Wait one minute here.

Walt

I can't be a good man until you give me the rest of the speech. Right?

Hub

Wait...

Walter (interrupting)

So you need to stick around until I'm old enough to hear the whole thing.

Hub

I see what you're trying to pull here.

Walter

No. You have to stick around until I'm old enough to...

Hub (over)

I'll write it down...

Walter

...No! I want you to give me the speech.

Hub

You won't be living here then?

Walter (crying)

You're my uncle. I need you to stick around and be my uncle. What about uncle Garth? He needs you. What about the dogs...and the pig...and the lion? We all need you. (beat) I need you.

Hub

No, you're just being silly.

Walter

No! It's true. It's true! And I know you miss Jasmine an awful, awful lot. But if you go, we'll miss you just as much....It's true.

[Note: Walter's love for Hub is as strong as Hub's love for Jasmine, which is TRUE, and it never dies.]

Hub thoughtfully considers his nephew and his words.

Hub

Alright, damnit. You win. I'll stick around and be your damn uncle. But don't expect me to be happy about it.

[Note: True love is willing to sacrifice for the good of the other. Hub, is willing to sacrifice his wants for the needs of Walter.]

They consider each other...and finally Hub sticks out his hand there in the darkness with the moon shining down upon them across the black pond.

Hub

Alright? Deal?

But Walter isn't satisfied with a handshake. He lunges toward his uncle and embraces him as if Hub is his long, lost father. Hub is surprised but hugs the boy in return, and pats his back.

Hub

Oh...oh. (hub) You're a good boy. That's alright.

[End of transcription.]

So, my conclusion is that Tim McCanlies, in his understanding of Walter's mental state, put into Hub's mouth true wisdom to convince Walter that there IS absolute truth in believing in man's goodness, virtue, honor, courage, and true love, which up until this summer, were concepts foreign as the Foreign Legion to Walter's belief system. It is unfortunate that some of us (my hand is raised) aren't as insightful as the screenwriter was who's spent 10 years perfecting the script.

Now, one last word about the airplane plowing in the barn that killed the uncles. The only words implicating "suicide" are the Sheriff's to the grown-up Walter. The Sheriff states that they went out with "their boots on" which is not a phrase associated with suicide but with living live to its max. The sheriff also says the they were two 90-year old men, neither with a pilot licenses, doing acrobatics in a old bi-plane when it crashes. (What else would we expect?) Then he says, "near as I can tell they were trying to fly through that barn door upside down." Ah, that is the line that is misunderstood. The context is dark humor, not the reality of the story. There was no death wish for either of these men anywhere in the movie, nor is there any suicide attempted. Hub's only wish was to live life and not be useless. It is clear, in context, that they had served their purpose in this life, and were greatly enjoying life when they died. They had raised Walter to be a responsible young man. But, as to their death, there are two possibilities other than suicide...no there are three. One is that there was mechanical failure of the plane. Second, pilot error. And the third is that Hub (he was the pilot) had a heart attract and the plane crashed where they were most at home...right back on their farm. These reasons are much more probably in the context of the story than suicide.

Stan

Stan Williams, Ph.D.

Executive Producer - SWC Films

Stan43635@StanWilliams.com Web

http://www.StanWilliams.com