Snapshots

In my previous post, I mentioned the short film "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury. My best friend remembered this obscure movie and found it available online. If you go to http://www.youtube.com/ and type in the film title in the 'search' box, it will bring up three parts to the video that you view consecutively. It totals about a half hour in all. Whether you have heard of this movie or not, I urge you to view it. It is quite profound in its message.


Seeing it again got me thinking about the accuracy of our memories. I had snapshots in my mind of certain parts of the film and could remember the basic premise, but I had forgotten some of the finer details. I knew that it had taken place on another planet that rained all the time. For a brief window of time, the sun shines for several minutes. Then the clouds close up again and it begins to rain again for several more years until the sun returns. The kids must stand under sun lamps. This one young girl had a memory of the sun for some reason and told her skeptical classmates about it. A few of them gang up on her and lock her in a room. The sun comes out and everyone forgets about her. They frolic and play in the field of flowers. They experience all the things the little girl had told them about. As the sun begins to fade, the kids realize that the young girl has missed out and go to find her. They all feel really bad.

I could remember the sun lamps, the nonstop rain, the sun coming out, kids running about, and closeups of flowers. These were just slivers of my memories and were quite fragmented. Yet, when I saw the film again my memory of it wasn't too far off. I had gotten the jist of it stuck in my mind. We all do that I think. We take snapshots that offer a glimpse, but not the whole picture. It's fascinating to experience something as an adult to refresh the memory and fill in the gaps. I actually got a little teary-eyed at the end of the film. It's based on a short story you can read at www.intermed.it/bradbury/Allsummer.htm.