Martian Child is the story of a writer who lost his wife, and decides to adopt a child from an orphanage. The child he adopts believes he is from Mars and is on Earth to learn about humans.
The movie begins with John Cusack‘s character, David, being interviewed for his latest sci-fi book about some sort of alien war epic. You see him missing his belated wife and seriously considering adopting a child. He decides to move forward, despite his sister’s warnings (played by his sister in real life, Joan Cusack). Adopting was something he and his wife wanted to do together, and he thought it would be a good way to bring her back in some way. At the orphanage, he bonds with this child who spends his days inside an over-sized Amazon.com box, out of fear that the Earth’s sun might be too potent for his fragile Martian body. After multiple visits and attempts at gaining his trust, David takes Martian boy (Dennis) home and their life together begins.
I broke up into tears in several parts of the movie. I realized that my feelings were mostly being shaken when it came to rejection and loneliness. We all feel it at one point or another, when we wish we could be somewhere else or we could be someone else. I remember feeling this way when I was growing up, through elementary, middle and the first couple of years of high school. I never seemed to fit in, no matter how hard I tried (oh, boy, did I try). I mimicked everything from popular shoes (Timberland) to popular jean brands (Levi’s), to popular music (I would listen to salsa 103.3 FM in middle school, and popular 107.3 FM in high school). No matter what I did, I was always labeled as a reject. Kids can be so cruel. I could start telling you heartbreaking stories of rejection, and you would get an insight into my soul, but I won’t because it is still too fresh on my mind and I’ll just go hysterical on you.
The question I always had was: where were the adults in all of this? Dennis had David, who would lose his cool sometimes, but he was always there encouraging him to be himself. Nobody ever told me it was OK to be different and that there would be a great life ahead of me for thinking for myself, as opposed to following the pack. All I got from my parents was “eh, don’t pay attention to them, who cares what they think?” No offense to my parents, who I know tried their hardest to be the best parents they could be, but that was not very helpful “advice” to a child (if you can even call it that). I needed someone to tell me that what I was feeling was normal, that the kids were in fact mean, and that it was up to me to distinguish between stupid and smart. I needed someone to tell me that I was a smart girl, and a beautiful girl, and that what the other kids did to me was more of a reflection of their own insecurities, than it was a reflection on myself.
I felt bad for Dennis for being teased in school, but I related to him more than I felt sorry for him. I felt like I was him. I wish I could distance myself from everything sometimes and just be in a different body altogether. We should all find our David who encourages us, tells us that it’s OK, and makes us feel good in our own skin. Without a David to make us feel accepted on Earth, we will remain Martians in an alien planet forever.
I hope this makes you want to check out the movie, and I hope you keep on being yourself. There is only one of you in the world. Don’t you ever ever ever ever EVER ever ever EVER forget that.
You can read another review at New York Times: Martian Child (2007)
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