The NeverEnding Story
Even though I love movies immensely, they can never compare to the experience I get when reading a good book. So when a movie was made about the power of books, inspiring kids to read more and put down those silly video games, we got the best of both worlds.
“The NeverEnding Story” is one of those rare movies that seems to have transcended any particular era or generation. Although made in 1984, it’s still as relevant today as it was then, given it’s a timeless tale of the importance of storytelling to protect our hopes and dreams, but most of all, the power of the imagination.
As the film starts, its signature song of the same title performed by Limahl fades in and never left our memory after the first time we heard it. Playing along beautifully to a changing sky of clouds that take on every shape and form, the song, like its movie, went onto to become a major hit. Listening to it now, brings back the memory of this film, and the 80’s, in a very special way.
The story takes us into the life of young Bastian; a quiet and well-behaved boy who lives in a world of books. He reads vivaciously in his spare time, when not trying desperately to get his dad’s attention after the passing of his mother, or spend his school days outrunning the local bullies. His dad should be the centre of Bastian’s world, but the man couldn’t be any more distant from his son. So time and time again, Bastian escapes into his stories. So much so, it affects his attention and performance at school. He’s a daydreamer; always late for school and known by his class mates as The Wierdo.
On just another school morning, trying to outrun the bullies, Bastian hides out in an old bookshop. Greeted unpleasantly by the stores owner who thinks he’s just another punk kid, Bastian defends himself and claims he loves books just as much as the grumpy old man sitting in the chair and smoking his pipe. At the time they meet, the old man is reading a book he describes to the boy as “Something Special”. Comparing the books Bastian would normally read as safe, he gets the boys curiosity, but refuses to let Bastian read the book for himself. So the boy does the next best thing. When the old man gets up to answer the phone, Bastian takes a peak and sees the book is called The NeverEnding Story. He grabs it, runs out of the store, and is watched by the old man who gives him a small smile through the window. With the mysterious book in his possession, Bastian runs off to school, skips class to hide out in the attic and starts to read…
As he narrates, his eyes widening as the words leap off the page, we are then magically transported into another world. Characters pop up out of the ground, or hang upside down from trees and converse in a forest. They talk about how a strange force seems to be literally eating up their world. Their world is called Fantasia, but this force is simply called, The Nothing.
In the heart of Fantasia is The Ivory Tower; a shining, glimmering white tower of rock, that stands tall over the land as a beacon of hope and prosperity. Inside this tower lives the Childlike Empress. A gathering is taking place, where characters of every face and type imaginable meet to discuss The Nothing, which for some reasons is causing the Empress to become ill, and get sicker as The Nothing gets stronger. The council announces their only hope of survival lies in the hands of a warrior, called Atreyu.
Bastian reads all of this, enthralled with the story he’s being told. He discovers Atreyu carried a brave heart, as well as all the hopes of Fantasia. Just a little boy himself, the council were not aware he was so young. Not taken seriously at first, Atreyu threatens to leave, but is beckoned back by the council to go on a quest, to prove he is the warrior they called for. His Quest – to find a cure for the Empress and to save the world of Fantasia. He must go alone, with no weapons, much danger, and unknown chances of success. If Atreyu fails, the Empress will die and Fantasia will be destroyed by The Nothing. Quite the quest for a 12 year old, but the brave young tyke simply responds with “When do I begin?”
Atreyu rides through one beautiful location after another, and it is this aspect of The NeverEnding Story that makes it stand out as one of the most beautifully creative and inventive kid’s films of all time. The lands in which the story takes place are rich in themes, and are named for exactly what they mean. For example the Swamps of Sadness is a muddy, dank and depressing place, that if you let it’s sadness get to you, will pull you down into it’s dark depths. When Atreyu loses his beloved horse Artex, this is still the most heartbreaking part of this movie, if not any movie ever made. Atreyu cries, Bastian cries into the pages, and we cry along with them. As promised, Atreyu’s Quest will test him in every gruelling and dangerous way imaginable.
Atreyu presses on, walking through fields of thick mud and dirty water, tired, beaten and unaware a killer beast is hunting him down. But salvation comes from the sky, in the form of a large, white, flying beast. It pulls Atreyu out of the mud just before he sinks, and just before the beast tries to nab him. The young warrior boy awakens, clean and apparently miles away from where he was. His saviour, the white, flying beast, is the brave and friendly Falkor. Referring to himself as a Luck Dragon, he keeps a watchful red eye open for Atreyu from here on, instilling his message “Never give up, and good luck will find you”.
The NeverEnding story triumphs in it’s adaptation from novel to film, made with so much creativity, care and love it’s like watching a book come to life on screen. Inventive and original at every turn, each character has its own quirks, movements and motives; all inhabiting their place in Fantasia with a special part to play in Atreyu’s quest. Each scene also plays its own important part in the telling of the story. Rather than just being one location or situation after another, every scene the film jumps to helps in telling the story. Watching The NeverEnding story for the first time, you would have been amazed by the seamless flow of pure imagination and authentic creativity, as we quickly move along and witness a cavalcade of colourful creatures and characters. All these years later and after many views, it still amazes me.
The two characters of Bastian and Atreyu are central to the narrative of the film. Where as Bastian is the boy who day dreams and lives through the characters in his books, Atreyu is the character we live through as he plays out the story of the book. However, it is Bastian who gives Atreyu his strength as his journey continues, when the young warrior has to work his way through one dangerous challenge after another. It is this clever narrative that draws you in, instead of distancing you, from this brilliant piece of story telling. The NeverEnding story carries many strong messages throughout. It’s about facing your fears. Atreyu must face all his fears on his perilous journey, while Bastian must face the fear of reading a book which is more real than anything else he’s ever experienced. But in facing his fears, and continuing to read, he gives life to Atreyu who can also face his fears as he is guided through the story by Bastian.
As the story reveals, Fantasia is the manifestation of the fantasies of mankind; all it’s hopes and all it’s dreams. But as humanity in the real world starts to lose its hopes and dreams, the world of Fantasia will be no more, thus is why The Nothing gets stronger and continues to destroy this world. And even as The Nothing takes most of Fantasia away, plunging it into eternal darkness and emptiness, The Ivory Tower remains intact. Therein remains Fantasia’s Childlike Empress, clinging onto her last lease of life after The Nothing has made her very ill. However dire her situation is, she remains strong and understanding, commending Atreyu for achieving his quest. She speaks of the one who can save them, the Earthling child. And Atreyu brought the human with him. That human was Bastian, and as he reads this story, which seems to now include him in its pages. Bastian can’t believe what’s happening, as the book speaks directly to him. And as long as Bastian refuses to accept he could be the one to save Fantasia, The Nothing will take over.
Once he finds his courage to live his dreams, Bastian enters Fantasia and meets the Empress. She gives him the gift of making as many wishes as he wants. After Bastian brings Fantasia back from The Northing, he goes for a ride on Falkor, and then gets some help to take care of those pesky bullies who gave him so much grief. Scaring the crap out of them, and an entire city, as they fly over the streets, Bastian and Falkor take care of the naughty kids. And before he returns to the real world, Bastian makes a few more wishes and goes on new adventures back in Fantasia… but that’s another story.
The NeverEnding holds its place in the movies of my childhood, with much admiration and fond memories. It would always make me want to read a really good book after watching the movie, and yell at the characters in the book, telling them to “Watch Out!” or “Keep going…” as I was so engrossed in their journey. Aside from my childhood, The NeverEnding Story has its place in movie history. Considered a classic by many, and loved by most, it’s a film that people hold dear in their hearts. It was given to me in the eighties, and I believe I introduced my nephew to it about twenty years later. And in the years to come, I know I will show it to my children, and share a very special film with them that I believe teaches kids the following message;
“Reading is fun. Nothing can replace your imagination. And life’s greatest adventures are not just contained within the confines of a book, but in your own dreams. So go out there and live the life of your dreams”
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