==Spoiler Alert== If you have not seen The Secret of NIMH, spoilers are ahead!
Don Bluth's The Secret of NIMH is one of the finest movies ever made.
I might even put it up with E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the original Muppet Movie as perhaps the greatest film ever made.
In this movie we are told the story of a group of rats who, through experimentation by human scientists, are given the gift of human-level intelligence.
We are shown that intelligence is a precious gift, the most incredible and magical and important thing that we have.
With our intelligence, a whole wide world of endless possibilities is opened up for us, if only we know how to develop our intelligence.
We see the rats of NIMH persuing science.
Experimenting with electricity.
We see their leader, Nicodemus, devoted to morality.
And then there is something else.
The stone.
The 'magic' stone.
Don Bluth, the filmmaker, steers the plot more and more until we have no choice but to rely upon the stone.
What does the stone mean?
What is it there for?
We are told only one thing about the stone: that when one possesses true courage of the heart, that it has a power.
That's what the stone means.
It means courage of the heart.
The stone is there so that when Mrs. Brisby has true courage of the heart, that with that courage, the stone can save the day.
The movie is plotted so that, through the stone, only true courage of the heart can save us.
This is the meaning of the stone.
The stone itself is just the means by which the courage of the heart can save us.
But if we look at the story, we see that courage of the heart has already saved us, without the stone.
Mrs Brisby is a single mother raising several children.
One of her children is sick.
Mrs. Brisby would do anything to save her child Timmy.
Mrs. Brisby seeks out the rats of NIMH in order to save her child Timmy.
They help her. Timmy can be saved.
Along the way, Mrs. Brisby learns that the rats of NIMH are doing something important.
It is called the Plan.
In order to carry out the plan, they need someone who can fit through a small hole.
A small hole too small for a rat to fit through.
There were two mice among the rats of NIMH.
One of them, Mrs. Brisby's late husband, was small enough to fit through the hole.
Carrying out this dangerous mission, he was killed. This is how Mrs. Brisby became a widow and a single mother.
The other mouse with the rats of NIMH, Mr. Ages, is too big to fit through the hole.
Mrs. Brisby volunteers for the mission- knowing that this is how her husband got killed.
The mission succeeds- but Mrs. Brisby is captured.
While captured, Mrs. Brisby overhears that the rats of NIMH are in grave danger.
They must carry out the Plan tonight- vacate their old home tonight, earlier than planned.
After Mrs. Brisby is rescued, she warns the rats of NIMH.
Mrs. Brisby's courage of the heart has already saved the rats of NIMH- even without the stone.
This is what the stone symbolizes.
It is not enough to follow science.
Science has no meaning.
Science and logic can justify greed.
We need that quality of the heart that makes us, in our finest moments, willing to risk it all for someone else- even though it brings no benefit to yourself.
We need true courage of the heart.
That's the difference between greedy Imperialists and those who save the world.
Not logic.
Greed is logical enough,
Courage of the heart.
The willingness to sacrifice yourself for others- even though it brings no benefit to yourself.
This is why Don Bluth steers the plot towards relying on the stone.
Because he is telling us that science and reason are not enough.
Science and reason can make us monsters as easily as it can civilize us.
We need to be willing to risk it all for others, as Mrs. Brisby does.
And to emphasize this, Don Bluth tells us one thing about the stone- that its power is awakened by true courage of the heart.
And so when the power of the stone saves the day, we know that it is true courage of the heart that saved us.
And that it was Mrs. Brisby who posesses this true courage of the heart.
And we have already seen Mrs. Brisby save the rats of NIMH through her courage of the heart without the aid of the stone.
The stone is a signpost, pointing to courage of the heart, as demonstrated time and time again by Mrs. Brisby.
This is what the stone is doing there.
Food for thought on one of the greatest stories ever told!
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson