My Favorite Childhood Movie
I remembered seeing this movie in a cable channel when I visited my cousin at their house when I was about seven. I love, love watching the telly but my aunt was adamant about screen time with her kids so I didn't get to finish the movie. I also didn't get to watch the start so I was really heart broken when I get home.
The next day I was still thinking about the movie and really wanted to watch that I was in a sour mood the whole day. My eldest brother asked me what was wrong and I told him about the movie I watched. I didn't catch the tile of the movie and so I remembered describing it to him like this: It's about a girl with super powers. She could move things with her mind! She love books like me. She's super smart. And she has this red ribbon in her hair!
My brother grew silent for a bit and then he raised his hand in the air!
Do you know what the movie is? It was Matilda!
My brother brought me to Video City the same day. If you don't know what Video City is, its a famous video rental store at that time. There were no internet back the and cable was for the elite so our only choice was Video City.
Aside from Matilda we also rented Poltergeist series. I have a penchant for horror movies since a young kid.
Image Source: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10830-matilda/images/posters
Going back to the movie, it was a book adaptation with the same title from the author Roald Dahl. It's about a girl who was neglected by her parents since birth. She literally brought herself up because her parents would often leave her alone at home. She discovered reading at an early age to entertain herself. After reading everything in their house, she ventured outside to the library. By the time she was about six she already read everything in their local library!
She's thirsty for knowledge so she asked her father to put her into school but he refused. Her father was against her reading and would force her to watch the television instead. One time he even ripped the pages of the books she was reading. This angered Matilda and causing her powers to be awaken. She took revenge by dyeing her father's hair green. And gluing his hair to his hat causing him to go bald.
Finally, the father caved in to her daughter's request and sent her to school. Matilda love her school especially her teacher. But the School's administration was rotten, the principal who's the step mom of Matilda's teacher was punishing the kids unreasonably. She once saw a kid wearing pigtails and she threw the kid outside the wall. There was also an incident were a kid stole a piece of cake from the principal and to punish him the principal made him eat a whole cake. (That scene sent me nightmares as a kid!) But Matilda taught her teacher to stand up to the principal. While the parents of Matilda run away from the police because her father was selling stolen cars. Her parents left her alone and her teacher took her in.
As a child, I dreamed of having the powers Matilda have! I would sometimes practice moving things with my mind and pretend that I could really do it!
Matilda taught me courage to stand up for myself. I was always bullied at school when I was young because I was shy and timid towards my peers. And when I watched Matilda, I told my mom what was happening in school. My bully was suspended and I was put in a different section. To this day, I still get nostalgic whenever I see Matilda.
And do you know its going to be remake this year!
