Klaatu barada nicto.

Saw The Day the Earth Stood Still last night.

How to keep this post relatively short...hmm.

In both the original and the remake, the little boy's father has died in the war. He and Klaatu visit the grave at Arlington.

In the remake, the boy (played by Will Smith's son, Jaden) is lamenting how his father left him.

Klaatu replies (and I paraphrase), "You know, nothing ever really dies. The universe wastes nothing. Things are merely transformed."

Earlier in the movie, Professor Barnhardt (played by John Cleese) is reasoning with Klaatu about the impending end of the world, saying how many civilizations have come to a major crisis, and many have been destroyed. But sometimes, in the nearness of destruction, we as humans realize how much we are capable of, and we change accordingly, we evolve. Instead of diverting what can be the 'end of the world,' it is possible to allow such circumstances to create something worth more than what came before.

A few weeks ago I posted a single thought, ganked shamelessly from someone's e-mail signature: "Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over, it turned into a butterfly."

Normally I find e-mail signatures cheeky and pendantic...but this one has always stayed with me. Imagine knowing - without a doubt, you're sure - that you are going to die. Everything is coming to ruins. Light is being snuffed out. Time is about to stop. Death is here.

And then...you transform, into something more beautiful and free than you ever knew existed.

For these reasons, I found The Day the Earth Stood Still more than worth my time.