The Point

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Under the Radar

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Back in 1971, this title was released for television, and has had at the very least one showing on TV since then. I know this, because I actually recognized one particular scene I remembered seeing on TV when I was a kid. That said, this one's a little hard to come across, and really does have its place well-established under the radar. And that's kind of a shame, because really, it's a good flick.

It starts off with a father (Ringo Starr/Dustin Hoffman//Alan Barzman/Alan Thicke - depending on which of the four telecasts you're watching) shown reading his kid a story, in hopes to teach him a thing or two about life.

​He tells of a boy named Oblio (Mike Lookinland) - a sweet kid who is born into a world where everyone and everything has a point in the literal sense. However, Oblio just so happened to be born without a point. Because of this, he and his dog Arrow are exiled to the Pointless Forest, as it's apparently breaking the law, not having a point.

Anyway, as one may imagine, the whole thing is a metaphor about things existing and having points to them in the more metaphorical sense. It could also be seen as something to watch when, perhaps, you don't think you have much point in existing. It does a good job as sending the message that everything in the world has its purpose, even Oblio, who was "born pointless". Coming to some less desirable thoughts like that a few times in my own life, there was something about the simplicity of the film's message that really hit home for me.

The film even goes out of the way to make sure we know Oblio's actually quite well-liked, too. It's really just a bully and the bully's father who want Oblio to go away, and they find the "pointless" loophole wit which to do it. The whole idea is that its a law, and can't really be voided just 'cause Oblio's well-liked. This, to me, is just as important that the whole underlying message because its important for us all to know that a few people might hate us, but a lot of people still love us for who we are. At the end of the day, we all have a "point" to us.

One might look at the picture about and think "holy crap, that's dated", and you'd pretty much be right. But the movie's whole execution in its storytelling and metaphors is nothing short of brilliant. Hell, it even gets into varying drug symbolism that an adult mind can probably see past, and have it work for them. This might be why it doesn't get much play, but really and truly, this is something that's fairly solid for the whole family. If you can find it, give it a shot. If you can get past the fairly gritty animation, there's a lot to like about it.

4/5

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