A strange thing happens on "The Astronaut Farmer's" mad dash for mediocrity: reality comes crashing into his happy story of make-believe and shakes things up. A fantasy about a dreamer who refuses to concede his quest to fly one day into space—going so far as to build a towering rocket ship in his barn—the new film from the Polish brothers (the same pair who brought us "Twin Falls Idaho" and "Northfork") is a fairy-tale for the terrorism age.

Surprisingly, the bad guys aren't cynics who mock Charles Farmer's (Billy Bob Thornton) flights of fancy, or the bankers who threaten to foreclose on his home—a la "Field of Dreams. " Heck, the bad guys aren't even the Soviets—the "Reds" who, in one way or another, stir up jingoistic notions of patriotism in most tales of space travel.

Interactive: Video Interviews with stars Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen, and Filmmakers Michael and Mark Polish, Movie Clips, Slideshow.

No, here the bad guys, the ones putting a knife to the American dream and this little man, are those who run the Department of Homeland Security; the enemy is the American government.

Called in when Farmer tries to purchase rocket fuel, worried that one of America's own is devising a weapon of mass destruction, the FBI is asked to intervene by NASA and the FAA, who both have a vested, multi-billion-dollar interest in ensuring that only "professionals" go into space.

In hindsight, the film's overtly sappy, pristine opening is little more than a setup for the horrors to come, and the rushed, feel-good ending is difficult to stomach. But in between, the Polish brothers prove to be two of only a few directors to create a mainstream work that stirs up the pot of national politics—challenging the concept of a black-and-white war on terror.

Never is this point made more clearly than during an official governmental hearing, in which Farmer lodges a protest in hopes of attaining a permit to lift off into outer space. One after another, agency officials challenge him—one telling Farmer that it's just too dangerous a dream, another asking how the American government can be assured that he isn't constructing a weapon of mass destruction.

And suddenly, the government seems less like an entity designed to protect us than a body existing with the sole purpose of dictating what we can and can't do, and how we can or can't do it. We see echoes of today's culture of political correctness, and when Farmer answers the official that they can rest assured there is no WMD on this rocket because they actually managed to find it—unlike Iraq—we're reminded of how quickly our leaders can whip up an air of hysteria and suspicion, without an ounce of evidence to support it all.

Of course, none of this would resonate if we were not convinced by Billy Bob Thornton to lend our sympathies to this farmer, as he plays Farmer less as an eccentric than as a hard-working, family-loving, good-natured dreamer. He is really an everyman who commits himself to his rocket as so many other guys commit themselves to fixing a car, remodeling a house or exercising. He is the all-American family man, and when he is discouraged by the authorities or pulled in for questioning, he presents his case as simply, and humbly, as any average Joe would.

So no, it's hardly subversive, but it is a powerful, PG-rated punch in the gut of America's heartland. The Polish brothers have made a hero out of a "terrorist," and stepped across that crucial line where even escapist entertainment cannot escape the ways of the world.

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02-25-2007 08:21 PM  #1
crontab Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 204	Not technically accurate? I keep seeing these bone-head people telling about seeing this movie and then stating the movie is "not technically acurate." How technically accurate can a person with a Delta rocket in his barn be? No one has ever done such a thing before, how can the story be technically accurate?

02-25-2007 09:25 PM  #2
dwmzmm Certified Level Two   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 68	My family and I just got back from watching the movie, and I personally enjoyed it despite the inaccurancies. Didn't the Apollo 13 movie have many inaccurancies too?!

02-25-2007 09:36 PM  #3
crontab Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 204	That's what I thought too. How can anyone expect a fictional movie about an amateur launching his own Delta rocket to be anything but fictional? There is nothing to compare it too. Certainly you can't expect them to do it like NASA would do it. Even the most detailed documentaries get it wrong. I don't think anyone should dismiss the entertainment value because it's technically off-base. Be glad there are movies out there that challenge the government's encroachment of personal liberties while glorifying the dream of space travel. That seems to be much more important for the nation than if they put the fuel hose in the right tank.

02-26-2007 08:38 AM  #4
DumasBro2 I Felta Thi Frat Boy   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 235	Quote: That's what I thought too. How can anyone expect a fictional movie about an amateur launching his own Delta rocket to be anything but fictional? It is an Atlas isn't it?

02-26-2007 01:37 PM  #5
crontab Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 204	Quote: It is an Atlas isn't it? See how technically inaccurate it is? The script called it a Delta. Just kidding, I'm getting old.

02-27-2007 07:40 AM  #6
DumasBro2 I Felta Thi Frat Boy   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 235	Quote: See how technically inaccurate it is? The script called it a Delta. Just kidding, I'm getting old. LOL!!!! Join the club.

03-09-2007 11:12 PM  #7
Raider Rocketry Low Power Enthusiast   Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 128	The strange thing is that I found out about the NAR/TRA vs. BATFE case, now 7 years old, just after this movie came out. I wouldn't be surprised if that might have been part of the inspiration for the movie. Not that I want to hijack the thread into the lawsuit, it just hit me as art imitating life.

03-15-2007 01:48 PM  #8
aerostadt Certified Level Two   Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 43	Inaccurate but fun for rocket nuts Yes, the movie is inaccurate and far-fetched. I liked the above official review, which called it a fantasy. If you accept the movie this way and you are a rocket nut, you will enjoy it. I was moved to tears, but I was shedding tears during "October Skies", too. I look at the movie as re-living a boyhood dream of building some kind of astounding rocket for the first time and not "just" fighting the American bureaucracy. Actually, flying a manned rocket in the face of bureacracy is not a new idea for a movie. There was a made-for-TV movie about 20 years with Andy Griffith that had a privately built rocket fly to the moon and back in the face of official obstacles, long before the idea of homeland security. The movie is filled with inaccuracies. Ten thousand pounds of fuel (RP-1) would hardly be enough to fill the Atlas, which had a lift-off thrust of 365,000 pounds force and what about the liquid oxygen. In the movie the astronaut is concerned about finding the fuel, but the LOX would have been much harder to obtain. One could almost endlessly go on about the inaccuracies.

03-28-2007 12:26 AM  #9
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 3189	What a film! I have to say, what a film. A film of courage, and commitment. Of dreams and sacrifices. Of having something to believe in and having the fortitude to see it through. The Astronaut Farmer is a beautifully written story about an average American having a dream and the wonderful interwoven saga of doing something special together as a family. Of how reality so often takes our dreams and tells us we can't accomplish them, because it hasn't been done before or because Big Brother is protecting us from ourselves. Sub-plots, such as government encroachment stifling the creative spirit, forcing people to often make hastened and ill-advised decisions, or such as the government knows best how to take care of your children or what standards of performance a person should adhere to, make the film more deep. Life, death, challenge, success, failure, adversity, risk, they're all there. But don't give up, don't kill the human spirit, because success in the end reveals the essence of life. I never once contemplated an individual actually building a rocket such as that and launching it, let alone the chance for success and failure. Unfortunately the primary audience of the film will no doubt be disappointed because of insignificant technical inaccuracies, but like many things in life, that majority will miss the true blessing of the real story because they were looking for the devil in the details. Sometimes life wants to be taken for face value. Sometimes, you have to put rockets down and just experience what life is showing you.

03-29-2007 01:48 AM  #10
agrippo Certified Level Three   Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 105	Quote: I have to say, what a film. A film of courage, and commitment. Of dreams and sacrifices. Of having something to believe in and having the fortitude to see it through. The Astronaut Farmer is a beautifully written story about an average American having a dream and the wonderful interwoven saga of doing something special together as a family. Of how reality so often takes our dreams and tells us we can't accomplish them, because it hasn't been done before or because Big Brother is protecting us from ourselves. Sub-plots, such as government encroachment stifling the creative spirit, forcing people to often make hastened and ill-advised decisions, or such as the government knows best how to take care of your children or what standards of performance a person should adhere to, make the film more deep. Life, death, challenge, success, failure, adversity, risk, they're all there. But don't give up, don't kill the human spirit, because success in the end reveals the essence of life. I never once contemplated an individual actually building a rocket such as that and launching it, let alone the chance for success and failure. Unfortunately the primary audience of the film will no doubt be disappointed because of insignificant technical inaccuracies, but like many things in life, that majority will miss the true blessing of the real story because they were looking for the devil in the details. Sometimes life wants to be taken for face value. Sometimes, you have to put rockets down and just experience what life is showing you. Your right on the money. Anyone complaining about the rocketry details in the movie completely missed the intentions of the writers and director. What a shame that some people have to take everything so serious about something that is supposed to be fun.

03-29-2007 06:07 PM  #11
Raider Rocketry Low Power Enthusiast   Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 128	Quote: Your right on the money. Anyone complaining about the rocketry details in the movie completely missed the intentions of the writers and director. What a shame that some people have to take everything so serious about something that is supposed to be fun. Yeah, but finding the "mistakes" for me is actually fun. Either that or it's OCD. Either way it never gets in the way of me enjoying a movie and I hope to see this one this weekend.