Powder (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Powder


caption = Promotional movie poster for the film
writer = Victor Salva
starring = Sean Patrick Flanery,
Jeff Goldblum,
Mary Steenburgen,
Lance Henriksen,
Brandon Smith,
Bradford Tatum
director = Victor Salva
producer = Roger Birnbaum,
Daniel Grodnik
distributor = Caravan Pictures,
Hollywood Pictures
released = October 27, 1995
runtime = 111 min.
language = English
budget = | gross = $30,862,156 | music =
awards =
imdb_id = 0114168

"Powder" is a 1995 film directed by Victor Salva, about an albino boy, nicknamed "Powder", with incredible intellect, telepathy, and paranormal powers over electricity. It stars Sean Patrick Flanery in the title role, with Jeff Goldblum, Mary Steenburgen, Bradford Tatum, Lance Henriksen, and Brandon Smith in supporting roles. The film questions the limits of the human mind and body while also displaying their capacity for cruelty, and the hope that one day humanity will advance beyond technology.

Since its release, the film has grossed approximately $31 million worldwide.

Plot summary

Jeremy Reed, whose nickname is Powder, is an albino (a medical condition in which there is no pigmentation of the skin) who has incredible intellect and is able to sense the thoughts of the people around him. Jeremy's mother was struck by lightning while pregnant with him. She died shortly after the strike, but Jeremy survived. Because of the lightning strike, Jeremy's body possesses a powerful electromagnetic charge, which causes electrical objects to function abnormally when he is around them, as well as when he becomes emotional. Also, because of his electrical charge, no hair can grow on his body. Because his mother is dead and his father disowned him and left him with the hospital where he was born, he grew up with his grandparents, who kept him in a basement and would not let him leave the house, so he turned to books for solace. He was taken from his home when his grandfather was found dead. Child Services agents took him to a boy's home because he was now effectively a ward of the state.

He is taken to high school and encounters physics teacher Donald Ripley (Goldblum) who finds out that Powder has supernatural powers as well as the highest IQ in the history of mankind. While his abilities mark him as special, they also make him an outcast. On a hunting trip with his schoolmates, Powder is threatened with a gun by John Box, an aggressive student who views him as a freak. Before John can shoot, a gun goes off in the distance and everyone rushes to see that Harley, a sheriff's deputy who is hunting with the boys, has shot a doe which is now dying. Anguished by the animal's death, Powder touches the deer and Harley, inducing in Harley what the students assume is a seizure. Harley later reveals that Powder had caused him to feel the pain and fear of the dying deer, and he cannot bring himself to wield a gun anymore because of this, although he hates Powder for doing this to him.

Powder meets Lindsey Kelloway, a romantic interest, but their relationship is broken by Lindsey's father. Before the interruption, he tells Lindsey that he can see the truth about people: that they are scared and feel disconnected from the rest of the world, but in truth are all connected to everything that exists. When Jeremy asks if she thinks he's ugly, Lindsey says, "I don't know what I think about you, but sometimes I think you're the most beautiful face I've ever seen."

Powder goes back to the juvenile facility and packs away his belongings, planning to run away to his deceased grandparents' farm. He pauses to stare at a male student in the gym, and is caught at it by John Box, who accuses him of homosexuality. John steals Jeremy's hat and taunts him, but Powder reveals that John's words mimic what his stepfather said before beating him when he was 12, further angering Box. Box and the other boys humiliate Powder, stripping him naked and throwing him in a mud puddle. Box is then knocked away by a mysterious electric attack caused by lightning's strange attraction to Powder, and a classmate pronounces him dead. Powder uses an electric shock to revive John. John places Jeremy's hand over his own heart, as if to almost thank him and apologize.

In the final scene, Powder returns to the farm he grew up on, now in probate with the bank with his possessions removed, where he is rejoined by Jesse the psychiatrist, along with Donald Ripley and the Sheriff, who persuade Powder to come with them. However, Powder symbolically refuses to join the rest of society, instead letting nature take him: he runs into a stormy field where lightning strikes him, and he disappears in a blinding flash of multi-colored light.

Director controversy

The film's production by Disney resulted in a controversy over the choice of director Victor Salva, who had been convicted of molesting a 12-year-old child actor in 1988. When "Powder" was released, the victim, Nathan Forrest Winters, came forward again in an attempt to get others to boycott the film in protest at Disney's hiring Salva.

Remake

The film was remade by Bollywood under the title of "Alag".

External links

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