How I Discovered the Magic of the Movies

A month after I turned 16, I was in a car accident that left me with a severe back injury. I was taken from one hospital to another. I went from being told that I would need surgery to the doctors saying the break in my vertebrae would heal on its own. After a week of scans and doctors going back and forth, I left the hospital in a back brace that I would have to wear for the next three months.

There’s not much you can do when you have an L3 vertebrae fracture. I couldn’t get out of bed, physically or mentally. For weeks I needed help just to walk. But the one thing I could do for months on end from the safety of my bed was watch movies.

I’ve liked movies my entire life. My mom had worked at our local Blockbuster, which meant frequent trips to the store to get DVD’s, and my dad had been subscribed to Netflix since they mailed out DVD rentals. I grew up in the average movie-watching household.

But something changed after my car crash. I had gone from being an average movie fan, to slowly incorporating movies into my everyday life, to becoming fascinated by all the small things that made movies, movies.

I remember watching the Oscars in 2022, still with a broken back and having nothing else to do. This was the year that Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, but that’s not what I remember that year for. I remember Ariana DeBose becoming the first openly queer woman of color to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. I remember Troy Kotsur being the first deaf male to win Best Actor. And I remember Will Smith’s acceptance speech for his first Oscar win. These are the moments that made the Oscars my Super Bowl. This was the moment that I truly fell in love with the movies.

I went from being a casual enjoyer of films, to appreciating things like Wes Anderson’s color grading and symmetry, the raw emotion in the documentary “Dear Zachary: A letter to a Son About His Father” by Kurt Kuenne, and loving the opening shots of “Argo” by Ben Affleck.

I started watching at least one movie a day. The thing about movies is that no matter what you’re going through, there will always be a movie to help you through it. When I was scared to fall asleep after my car accident, I knew I could watch a movie. When I’m happy, sad, angry, I know that there is a movie to match my feelings.

After my accident I had “Silver Linings Playbook” by David O’Russel telling me I’d be OK. After I did poorly on my ACT and decided to become a journalist instead of a psychologist, I had “The Fabelmans” by Steven Spielberg to comfort me. There will always be a movie that captures your emotions, and that’s the magic of the movies.

Lizzie Rush is a Grand Island, Neb., sophomore studying journalism and the Collegian’s Editor In Chief. Contact her on Instagram.

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