I've seen The Road Warrior or Mad Max 2 so many times I've lost count, it could be hundreds -- I just don't know. Yesterday it was on one of the HBO channels and the movie had already started but I didn't care so I turned it on in the background and of course I found myself watching it once again. It's one of my favorite films of all time. This time was interesting though, I've watched the film enough times that I know it by heart but I noticed something I haven't paid attention to for a long time if ever. It's when Max returns to the Gas Tribe's compound with the precious Big Rig Truck they will need to escape from Lord Humungus and his Marauders. It's a really intense scene and Max has given these people hope for the first time in what is probably a very long time.
Max walks with confidence his Dog along side of him and not far behind is The Feral Kid. This child cannot speak most likely because no one has had time to teach him how because they are too busy fighting every single day for their lives. This is what I noticed -- As the Feral Kid follows Max, the Kid is looking down at Max's feet trying to match Max's footsteps. The Kid follows Max's stride mimicking him and I smiled. I thought it was a very nice detail -- How did I not notice this before?
The Feral Kid looks up to Max, The Road Warrior, he wants to walk in his footsteps and all that and BOOM IT HIT ME. I remembered the scene in the original Mad Max film, there's a moment when Max and his wife Jesse are laying outside talking.
Max talks about his Father:
"When I was a kid...
...me and my father used to go for long walks I remember staring down at his shoes.
They were special shoes, brown.
And he always kept them really shiny.
He was tall, and he used to take long strides.
And there I'd be right alongside him...
...just trying to keep up with him.
I don't think he ever knew how proud I felt of him.
Or how good it felt just to be there alongside him..."
Max disappears for a moment, thinking about his Father. The man he looked up to, the man that probably instilled in Max the drive he now has to survive and what also causes Max to eventually do the right thing. Max may seem selfish at first but he always ends up helping others. So here's The Feral Kid -- We have no idea if he had a Father or where he even came from. He's staring down at Max's feet trying to match Max's stride and one day he grows up to become the leader of the Great Northern Tribe as we're told by the closing narration. Perhaps when he saw Max, this lone warrior, this last hero in a world of scavengers and human trash he found inspiration to be more than just a man in a wasteland he found the inspiration to be a leader and help others along.
I don't know, but it's cool that a movie I've watched countless times made me think and see something new. God, I love George Miller and I love this film.
*Originally written in a Facebook Post in the Entertainment Landfill Fan Club Group Page Sep 9th, 2017*
