“Clouds” tells a heart-wrenching true story
This past October, Disney+ released their take on the life of Zach Sobiech, singer and writer of the song “Clouds.” The movie pays respect to the life of Sobiech, and tells a heartwarming coming-of-age story that will leave you curled up on your couch, clutching a tissue box.
“Clouds” opens up with Sobiech during his senior year of high school, displaying his struggles with harsh chemotherapy while introducing his positive attitude about the future. In the movie, Sobiech has lung cancer, while in real life, he had osteosarcoma, a rare cancer of the bone in addition to the tumors in his lungs.
At the beginning of the movie, Sobiech seems to be headed towards recovery, but he soon finds out that his cancer is terminal, leaving him with just six to nine months to live.
This ticking timer takes a toll on him everyday as he copes with the normal challenges of being adolescent and his diagnosis. Through his pain, Sobiech finds inspiration in music and songwriting, gaining significant media attention over his song, “Clouds.” Sobiech and his best friend, Sammy Brown, create an album that receives popularity throughout the movie.
A 25-minute documentary was filmed and released on YouTube in 2013, just weeks before Sobiech passed away. The documentary shows many original scenes that the movie recreated, and is just as heart-warming and heartbreaking as the movie, if not more so. Seeing Sobiech as himself added a certain depth to the movie and reinforced the characters as real people. The documentary can be found on YouTube.
Apart from being beautifully tragic, the only complaint we could muster about the movie is that it runs a little long, finishing at two hours and one minute. However, be sure to make it to the end, where a concert has a bitter-sweet twist and footage of the real Zach Sobiech is shown during the credits.
We can all learn something from Sobiech’s incredible life. Sobiech’s song “Clouds” is still available to listen to on almost all platforms, as well as his entire album “Fix Me Up” with Sammy Brown.
Just before Sobiech passed away, he and his family started the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma fund, where anyone can donate to research for osteosarcoma. Currently, only four percent of federal cancer research is sent to childhood cancer. You can donate here: https://childrenscancer.org/about-us/.
