I'm doing 16 things
I like the movie…it’s about a Reverend who loses his faith…basically because his wife dies in a horrible accident.
At the climax of the movie, a hostile alien is holding Graham’s (the Rev’s) son, about to poison him with gas. At this moment, all the particular idiosyncrasies of the characters resonate with Graham, and he understands their meaning.
His brother, in the room, a failed home run slugger in the minor leagues. His wife told Graham (as she lay dying) to tell Merrill (the brother) to “swing away.” That means, swing for the fences. He tells Merrill then, to swing away. “Swing away, Merrill.” Merrill happened to be standing beneath the baseball bat mounted on the wall which he used to club his most memorable home run: 507 feet, we see engraved in the brass as Merrill takes down the bat. Then it all happens fast…
The alien sprays poison in the face of Graham’s son, who has asthma, and drops him.
Merrill beats the alien with his bat.
Graham takes the boy outside.
The alien falls, and as he does, water spills onto its skin, burning it…water, that the daughter, Bo, had left around the house in unfinished glasses. Water, the one thing that kills these horrible invading aliens. Merrill bashes the alien again, and then more water falls onto the face of the alien…it is beaten…
And outside, Graham is holding his son. His asthma had acted up at the moment of alien poisoning…what will happen? Eventually, he opens his eyes – the asthma had closed his lungs, saving his life. He lives, and Graham’s faith is restored. Because of all these events having come together, Graham sees the Signs that make up his life, and they are no coincidence. The movie closes with Graham putting on his white collar (which he had abandoned after the death of his wife) and walked away humming, presumably, to church.
I wish that such a plan, if it existed, were so obvious for all of us to discover.
