I can't help it, but I love showing videos like Go Toward the Light as much as I enjoy presenting literature with similar themes. There is something about putting young children in touch with life's unpleasurable realities that gets to me. Go Toward the Light not only serves as a lesson on spirituality, but at this point is also a history lesson that allows children to see the types of discrimination AIDS patients endured at the birth of this disease in our nation.
The movie is based on the touching memoir written by Chris Oyler, the mother of Benjamin Oyler (Ben Madison in the film), a seven year old hemophiliac who contracts the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion. The story is less about AIDS, however, than it is about one boy's spiritual journey as he realizes the inevitability of his fate.
What makes this story unique is that it is told through the eyes of a mother who has to endure a horrific challenge, watching one of her children die a slow and agonizing death, and at the same time not allow herself to stand in denial of the boy's impending passing. The story is about how she, and eventually her husband, come to understand that they have to prepare their oldest child for his death. In meeting this challenge they help the boy live to the fullest until the end.
Even among intermediate children there will be many tears, as some of the scenes brutally tug at the heartstrings, including when Ben makes out his will, and when he asks his mother if he can sell his bike after realizing he can't ride it anymore. The story is about death, but it is also about living life to the fullest, even in the midst of the controversey that surrounded people, including children, with AIDS in the eighties. Yes, Ben is ousted out of school by the school board and faces other types of discrimination, but again the story does not focus on these elements but views them peripherally to his struggle to live as long as he can.
The climax is inevitable, but nonetheless saddening. In the end, and with teacher discussion, children will have renewed appreciation in their own health, and perhaps a better idea of what they might do to make a difference with the time they have been given.
Go Toward the Light is for family viewing. It is ninety minutes long and available on DVD. It stars Linda Hamilton, Ned Beatty, and Richard Thomas.
Enjoy.
