As a child, I had an inexplicable love for the movie Secondhand Lions, starring the recently deceased Robert Duvall. It’s strange to see how it touches on so many themes that I still find myself pondering to this day: storytelling, virtue, masculinity, wonder, etc… While it is a very simple film, avoiding flourish both in special effects and in writing, it’s sincerity and wholesomeness is achingly absent in today’s media. Near the end of the film, Robert Duvall’s character gives a speech which left quite an impression on me as a child. I suspect that it will play a lot during the RIPs for Robert, but I felt like sharing it anyways:
Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love… true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.