THOUGHTS ABOUT THE NOTHING

Today I was thinking that I had nothing to share with anyone. I kept thinking about the word "NOTHING" and suddenly, I remembered a wonderful old movie that I enjoy watching over and over again. So I thought I’d share with you the story of…

"The Neverending Story" is a 1984 film adaptation of the German fantasy novel by Michael Ende. Music for the movie was composed by Klaus Doldinger of the German jazz group Passport. The theme song to the American version of the film was composed by Giorgio Moroder with lyrics by Keith Forsey, and performed by Limahl, lead singer of Kajagoogoo. This song, along with other "techno-pop" treatments to the soundtrack are not present in the German version of the film, which features Doldinger's orchestra-only score exclusively. (from Wikipedia)

The story concerns a boy named Bastian who has no friends and is always being bullied by a group of other boys. But Bastian has a passion: reading. He loves to read adventure books. One day, in an old bookstore, he finds a strange book called "The Neverending Story". When he starts to read the book, he finds a world with lots of creatures and a boy that has a mission. And he finds that he is a part of the story. He also becomes confused when he learns that he has been chosen by the Childlike Empress to save the world of Fantasia...

In the book that Bastian reads, the main character is Atreyu, a boy who lives in the Grassy Plains of Fantasia. He has been chosen by the Childlike Empress to save the land of Fantasia. Without any weapon, he goes alone on a long, dangerous, and sometimes sad journey to find a cure for the sick Empress and to stop the deadly Nothing, which is sweeping the land. The Nothing is a force that devastates and engulfs Fantasia and represents the despair of humans who have stopped believing in their dreams. Its servant is Gmork, a huge wolf who has as his mission to kill the only one who can stop this destructive force and save Fantasia, Atreyu.

The childlike Empress rules all of Fantasia. Unlike any Queen, she doesn't need any army or bodyguards. That's because the existence of Fantasia depends on her health and life. Unfortunately, she becomes very sick, and there is a mysterious link to her illness and the Nothing. There's just a small hope that she will recover her health and save the Land of Fantasia. Atreyu is her hope. He will have to find a cure to save her. To help Atreyu, she give away something that represents her, an amulet called the AURYN. Atreyu wears this amulet in order to protect himself from the Nothing.

The saddest place in Fantasia is the "swamps of sadness." When you are in the swamps, if sadness reaches your heart and soul, you will not be able to get out of mud... until you die. Atreyu’s beloved horse, Artax, dies in the swamps.

After saving Atreyu from Swamps of Sadness, Falkor becomes Atreyu's new best friend and partner to save the Childlike Empress. He is a luck dragon without any kind of wings, but he can fly swiftly. He can also swim. He tells Atreyu that nothing is impossible. Many other characters help and hinder Atreyu in his quest, but his mission is ultimately successful.

I love this movie and have shown it to many of my Grade 4 students over the years. Because it’s an older movie, most of the kids had never seen it before and were mesmerised by the story, the special effects, and the music as well as the underlying theme of evil. The movie is exciting even for adults because they can relate to the story on a higher level. If you’ve never seen it before, I highly recommend it. The music itself is worth watching the movie. If you have seen it, what did you think of it?

See the following link for details about the story and its characters.
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Derby/1294/geschichte/Fantasia.html