STAND BY ME

english below

“Kids lose everything unless there's someone there to look out for them.” Deze harde les deelt de jonge Chris (River Phoenix) met zijn ongelukkige vriend Gordie (Wil Wheaton). Een les die hopelijk elke volwassene kan meedragen en die hopelijk geen enkel kind moet leren.

In STAND BY ME gaan vier 12-jarige vrienden op zoek naar het lichaam van een vermiste jongen in de bossen nabij hun stadje Castle Rock in Oregon tijdens de zomervakantie van 1959. De jongens – Gordie, Chris, Vern en Teddy – dragen elk de last van een moeilijke thuissituatie en vinden troost in elkaars gezelschap. Ze hopen met het vinden van het lichaam lokale helden te worden, maar wat ze onderweg leren over zichzelf, vriendschap, en rechtvaardigheid zullen ze hun verdere leven meedragen. Zoals de volwassen Gordie besluit: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”

Regisseur Rob Reiner maakte – in de woorden van de schrijver zelf – de beste adaptatie ooit van een werk van Stephen King, in dit geval de novelle The Body. De film is een ode aan kindertijd, vriendschap en herinneringen aan een tijd van toen die eindeloos aanvoelt. STAND BY ME slaagt er overtuigend in om dat nostalgische aanvoelen te recreëren.

“For some, it's the last real taste of innocence, and the first real taste of life. But for everyone, it's the time that memories are made of”, volgens de tagline van deze coming-of-age klassieker die niet kan ontbreken in ons ENDLESS NIGHTS/ETERNAL SUMMER programma.

ENG
The film is in English with Dutch subtitles

“Kids lose everything unless there's someone there to look out for them.” This hard lesson is shared by the young Chris (River Phoenix) with his unhappy friend Gordie (Wil Wheaton). A lesson hopefully every adult can carry out, and hopefully no child should ever learn.

In STAND BY ME, four 12-year-old friends go out in search of the missing body of a boy in the woods near their town of Castle Rock, Oregon, during the summer holiday of 1959. The boys – Gordie, Chris, Vern and Teddy – all carry the burden of a difficult homelife, but they find comfort in each other’s company. By finding the body, they hope to become local heroes, but what they learn along the way about themselves, friendship, and justness is something they’ll carry with them the rest of their lives. As concluded by the grown-up Gordie: “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”

Director Rob Reiner made – in the words of the author himself – the best adaptation ever of a Stephen King work, in this case, the novella The Body. The movie pays homage to childhood, friendship and memories of an endless time long past. STAND BY ME convincingly manages to recreate this nostalgic feel.

“For some, it's the last real taste of innocence, and the first real taste of life. But for everyone, it's the time that memories are made of”, according to the tagline of this coming-of-age classic, which can not be missing from our ENDLESS NIGHTS/ETERNAL SUMMER programme.