I watched the movie "Cocoon" last night, and found it to be not just a well-made and well-acted movie, but quite a thought-provoking one as well. Like all quality science fiction, it focused more on the human reactions to the supernatural circumstances than on the supernaturality itself, and those human reactions made me think, oddly enough, about the LDS doctrine of eternal families.

Here's a little plot summary so I can make my point (and if you haven't seen this movie in the 24 years since it came out in 1985, then you can't complain that I'm going to spoil the plot here).

There's a lot more to the plot than this, but the important part for my purposes comes near the end. There's a group of benevolent aliens who have power over something they call "life force," who invite a bunch of old people from a rest home to join them in outer space. If they decide to go with the aliens, they will never get sick, grow old(er), or die. For its final half hour or so, the movie grapples with questions of life and death, as the old folks decide whether to go or to stay, and figure out how to say goodbye to Earth.

The most poignant part for me was when one man, Joe, who has terminal cancer and who has recently had a falling out with his wife due to his infidelity, tries to convince her to a) forgive him, and b) join him on the spaceship. He said, "I want to go. But if it's a choice between six months here with you and eternity by myself up there, I'd rather stay with you." Another touching moment was when another old guy, Ben, tells his grandson goodbye, assuring him they will never see each other again, but that Grandpa and Grandma will be happy where they are going.

The movie doesn't make the themes explicitly religious (except when a minister who believes the old folks have died assures everyone in the final funeral scene that they're in a better place), but "outer space" here is very analogous to "heaven." I, like Joe, can't imagine going to heaven without my wife. It wouldn't be heaven to me without her. Fortunately, I don't have to worry like he did - we have been sealed in the temple, so I am certain that although one of us might get there before the other one, we will both be on that spaceship together. And like the old folks on the spaceship, we will then have the rest of eternity to spend together. (Though of course, if, like Joe, I'm not faithful to my marital vows, that promise of eternal togetherness isn't there.) In fact, some of the most memorable parts of the movie were simply the looks that the old married couples gave to each other as they made up their minds to do it, knowing that they would, indeed, be together forever. Contrast that with their one friend, Bernie, who doesn't really believe in the aliens - or at least doesn't want to have anything to do with them. His Alzheimer's-suffering wife passes away before he tries to use the aliens' life force to help her, but it's too late. Then, by himself, he still refuses to get on the spaceship because that isn't what he wants. He thinks it's "unnatural." But I bet if his wife were able to go with him, he'd do it. (I guess that's why we do work for the dead - unlike with Bernie, it's never too late.)

I know that I'll never have to leave my children and grandchildren (or my parents and grandparents) forever, as these characters did when they boarded the spaceship. In fact, that's the glory of the whole plan: the door to the spaceship is always open, and if we remain faithful, we can all get on it, and we'll all be there. In the movie, the decision to go was bittersweet, but in the Gospel, it's only sweet.

It's a rare sci-fi movie that gets me a little choked up as I watch it, as "Cocoon" did. It's an even rarer sci-fi movie that gets me a little choked up because it reaffirms my testimony of the Plan of Salvation, Heavenly Father's love for his children, and my love for my own family.