Elliot Kessler

“The Fabelmans” was a fantastic movie. It was an autobiopic about the early life of Steven Spielberg, showcasing the choice he made between art and family and the purpose of cinema. It was an inspirational, moving, and emotional experience that I loved.

I initially wanted to write about the entire movie and discuss everything I loved about it, but I realized that it would take too long. Instead, I want to talk about a particular scene in the film that caught my attention. There were so many perfect scenes in this movie that many of them stood out to me, but there was one that said a lot about the power of storytelling and how it can be used as a tool for communication.

There will be spoilers here, and I highly recommend you experience this movie before reading ahead. It is a phenomenal film for anyone, especially artists, storytellers, and movie lovers. Check it out if you haven’t yet.

Are you back? Good. On with the article!

The Scene

In the film, there’s a scene where Sammy, the main character, is shooting a war film with his friends. He talks with one friend who is playing the main character in his film, and he says that he wants him to walk across a valley filled with fallen soldiers, and Sammy gives him the backstory for the scene. The main soldier has led his men into the valley to attack the enemy, but he is the only survivor. He won, but at the cost of his family. In the scene they are shooting, the soldier walks through the bodies, looking around at the men he could have saved, the men that were dead because of him. He had led those soldiers, his family, into the valley, and they were gone because of him.

While Sammy explains the shot to the actor, the two boys begin to tear up, Sammy because of passion and the actor because of Sammy’s authenticity. When the boys show the film to their family and friends, everyone is in awe at the cinematography, the resourceful effects, and the enticing action. The audience gasps. They give “Oos” and “Aws” as the film unfolds before their eyes.

But when Sammy’s main character turns to look at the valley filled with bodies, the audience is silent. The soldier looks at the family he could have saved, and Sammy’s mom begins crying. She might not know why she is crying, but Sammy does, and I did as I watched the scene.

Drawing From Experience

Sammy and his family went on a camping trip, bringing their family friend with them. During the trip, Sammy shot a lot of footage. After the trip, the family got home and learned that Sammy’s grandma on his mom’s side was slipping away. At his grandma’s deathbed, Sammy watched as his mother mourned, looking for any glimmer of hope to cling to.

The family returned home, and Sammy’s dad explained that he wanted Sammy to make a movie from the camping trip footage. Sammy protested, explaining that he planned to shoot his war film that weekend, but his father insisted. While editing the footage, Sammy came across several shots of his mother and their family friend, and he realized that his mother had fallen for the friend. He found a shot of them kissing, and he became angry with himself for finding the footage. He knew his discovery would tear the family apart. His passion for films led his family into the valley, where they would soon die, and it would be Sammy’s fault.

That’s what the war film was about. Sammy had drawn from his experience and put it into the movie. He communicated his feelings through a story, which made his mother tear up, even if she did not fully understand why. Sammy told his family exactly what was going to happen. He told them that he was about to destroy them because of the discovery he had made without them knowing. He communicated his guilt, his longing to go back and save his family from what was about to happen, and his sadness at the eventual loss of his family through a story.

What Should Writers Learn from This?

“The Fabelmans” is a masterclass in storytelling. Being an autobiographical film, it takes the rule of “write what you know” to a completely different level. Speilberg understood that to get a story from good to great; he had to pull from his personal experiences. After watching this film, I realized that this is precisely what Speilberg has been doing since he began making movies professionally. He may have understood this as a child as we see in the film, but while the film is based on Speilberg’s life, it is still fictional.

In an interview on “The Tonight Show,” Seth Rogan, who played the family friend named Benny in the film, said that there were many times during shooting when Speilberg had to leave the director’s chair, find a quiet place, sit down and let the tears flow. He poured his heart and soul into the story of “The Fabelmans,” and it shows. He showed the world through his lens, and it was beautiful.

Writing and other forms of storytelling is a personal craft. You can quickly write a formulaic fantasy for escapism with no exploration of theme or character, sure. But that story will die before it hits the ground. If you show the world how you see things and share your experiences through your stories, people will relate to that much more. It will show in the quality of your work. There is a little bit of us in every story we write, but there is a lot of us in the best stories we write.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.