Why You Should Rediscover 'Real Steel'

'Real Steel' is one of the movies that always takes me back to my childhood days, coming back home from school as a middle schooler looking forward to the new episodes of Doraemon air on The Disney Channel soon, back in India. We all have those pieces of music, video captures of movies that are tinted with nostalgia and an air of freshness no matter the time that has passed notoriously quickly and has left us standing 10 years later at very different versions of what we imagined ourselves.

Those polaroid pieces of media that float in the ever increasing, growing world of digitized media and history serve in a way, as reminders of where we are today and where we came from. That is perhaps a weird take for 'movie from the 2010s', but then, there's the reason why some things never grow old and propel the 'age is just a number' conversation.

The gist of 'Real Steel' is how estranged son and boxer father come together, bonding over their love for robots and bot fighting, climbing the ladder to bot fighting stardom with their self-made robot 'Atom', the son wound up finding in a ditch on a rainy day (and eventually getting attached to)- all this while the father faces the dilemma of custody over his son after the son's mother passes away. To me, all these aspects of the story outline a greater message being hinted at between the lines- the journey to self-discovery.

A scene from 'Real Steel'- photo from Digital Trends

In the movie, when the father Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) agrees to take care of his son, Max after his ex-wife's passing over the summer, he initially does it as part of deal with his ex-wife's sister's husband out of a dire need for money. To him, the custody battle, his son- it's all a temporary investment until the boy's uncle and aunt come back from summer vacation. That is all he believes it to be, and he wishes no emotional connection whatsoever. Throughout the events of the movie, however, Charlie and his son discover their shared passion and start to bond over it, even though it takes a bit of a hurdle, and they discover the love dynamic between a father and a son.

Of course, no one believed that a robot-like Atom that had randomly been pulled out of a muddy ditch (obviously people expect it to have landed there because it was of no use) would ever face the robots of the time, let alone set foot in a world league of bot fighting. But you see, he ends up not only climbing his way to the top, but also WINNING the Global Robot Boxing League, garnering the title of World Champion.

The eerie part of all this is that as you get transported to this reimagined version of the year of 2020, you realize that Atom seems to have a mind and strength of his own, beyond the malleability and the hardness of the metal he is encased in. It seems to be almost something that is strangely, questionably human. He seems to have a grit and willpower almost that of a human athlete, with the intention of not stepping down till he drops dead- a robot with a humanly conscience and awareness.

Photo from YouTube- Max and Atom on the back of their truck on the highway, en route to a robot boxing fight.

It almost seems as though Max's undying, insane faith in Atom somehow gets through to the robot himself as well as cynical Charlie, fueling him to make his way through all the seemingly bigger and troublesome robots and obstacles to find his place in the top, even agreeing to train the robot with his boxing techniques.

Several scenes like these unite through our persistence of vision, showing us that life is a journey of self-discovery, and even rediscovery in certain ways. What we think we know might not be, what we don't believe in, might be. Our values and morals are refined and sharpened every day from our experiences, and we learn that hope and faith are highly contagious. Every hurdle is an opportunity to discover something new about yourself, and a chance to see what you are and what you can be.

They might not be strategies, but they are what motivates us to think beyond and play around with the concept of strategy to create it. The moviemaking industry is quite the vast entity in the world of entertainment we have conceptualized and brought to life as human beings, and though that seems like its sole purpose, it is also one of the many places that serve as carriers of messages and the torch that sparks dreams, motivation and storytelling through eloquent, imaginative eyes.

Random Disclaimer: Movies based on books is a completely different story. Read the book first, always :)