After a couple of times rewatching “One Small Step” and immediately trying to recover from an emotional breakdown both times, I’m finally able to tell you that you need to go watch this animated short. There are spoilers ahead, so if you haven’t seen the short yet, spare eight minutes out of your day, collect yourself after the inevitable tear fest and come back to read the rest.
I had the pleasure of being introduced to the Oscar-nominated short film called “One Small Step” earlier this week. This short was nothing short of amazing for a few reasons.
Here are some of those reasons in no particular order: the animation was great in that it was visually refreshing from animated movies you see in theaters, the film was right under eight minutes so they were really able to hold onto your attention throughout and it caught my feels better than almost any two-hour movie I have ever seen.
There is one thing that really stuck with me and probably almost every other viewer of this film, however: the father.
My father plays a large role in my life, and since the creators of this short phenomenally captured the daughter’s relationship with her father, it quickly grasped my attention.
The film follows a girl named Luna (the daughter) as she follows her dream to become an astronaut (extra love to the creators for the name/dream-career combo). While the film is mainly focused on Luna, the creators were also able to capture the father’s role in her life perfectly. As a father, he selflessly gave his time and love to allow her to pursue her dream.
Just like Luna’s father, mine was always driving me to do the same. Just with business and not space travel.
As the film quickly progressed through Luna’s life, her father was always in a sense the driving force in her desire to be an astronaut. Every time she would break her shoes, he would fix them; when she got home from class, he would have food ready for her; when she was upset, he would comfort her.
Without the father, the story itself would be about a girl who only had a dream but never succeeded in it (she did).
Where did the tears start rolling for me you ask? Well when the father dies of course.
Were there any signs of it happening you ask? Of course there weren’t.
After watching the short scene that lasted maybe forty-five seconds, I felt like I got hit by a freight train. My heart felt Luna’s pain through the funeral. My heart felt the pain through her rage from sadness as she destroyed every space-related thing in her room. You could tell she felt as if her dream died with her father.
Later in the film, Luna finds a box her father kept in his workshop full of all the things she loved as she grew up, specifically some rocket shoes he made for her when she was young.
Of course we all know how it ends if you watched it already: she gets herself together, gets her grades up, makes it into space academy and makes it to the moon. Happy ending.
What I want people to take away from this film is not to simply follow your dream, but to give your time to the ones that got you to where you are. Go give your dad a hug, give your mom a hug, tell them you love them.
What this film portrayed to me was that there is no definite time that you have with people, so don’t let it go to waste. That may sound cheesy, but if you watched this film then you should feel the same way.
