ABOUT THE MOVIE "SECOND HAND LIONS"

There was something about the ads for "Second Hand Lions" that made me want to go see it.  I went not too long after it opened with my friend, Catherine.  We went to the huge theater on I-95 in Boca Raton whose name escapes me now.

Let me start at the end.  When we were leaving the theater and walking across the parking lot, I asked her what she thought about it.  She said it was okay and asked how I liked it.  For a second I just couldn't answer. . .  the words stuck in my throat.

Almost from the beginning of the movie, I recognized the main characters.  The were my father and my uncle in hyperbole.  For sure the characters on the screen were rather exaggerated in behavior, adventure, and deed, but the spirit was one that I was only too familiar with.  Some of the quotes were even familiar - one in particular.  "There are only four of them" were words in a somewhat similar circumstance that came from my father's lips. 

With my father gone and my uncle fading, the movie grabbed my heart at times.  It is really kind of hard to explain, especially trying to explain how these two outlandish characters could remind me so much of my father and uncle.  I could just see them so much in these two characters: the outlandish adventures, the bravado, but mostly in the spirit that filled them.  Not everything they did was to be admired, but they lived in a different state from most of us.  They were always somewhat boyish, quick to jump into a adventure, and filled with a joyous spirit.

In the end, a young boy asked "You mean the men of my grandfather's stories really lived?"  And the nephew of the men answered, "Yes, they really lived" with the emphasis on lived.

One other quote from the movie really touched me as well. 

"If you want to believe in something, believe in it.  Just because something isn't true doesn't mean you can't believe in it...    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, true love never dies.  You remember that, boy.  It doesn't matter if it is true or not you see, a man should believe in those things because, because those are the things worth believing in."