As I previously mentioned, I grabbed a few free tickets to go see Peaceful Warrior this weekend. Well, more specifically, yesterday, but since Fridays count as "weekends" when it comes to movies, I am close enough to the right ballpark to be acceptable by governmental standards. Well, go see it I did, and I am back to report.
First off, as a movie, it leaves a considerable amount to be desired. There is effectively no soundtrack, the framing of the scenes is somewhat… basic (generally only including one character, whenever they are talking, and not resorting to anything complicated like a moving platform or anything except in short-duration exceptions), the basic story is something that has been hashed and rehashed on every family channel on the globe, and just about all the actors (excluding Nick Nolte, of course) were forumulaic in the delivery of their lines, as well as their characterizations (stereotypical jocks, coaches, etc.). And, as I mentioned, the story is something that has been handled time and time again in the past – guy is the leading guy at whatever he does (sports, studies, motorcycle-riding, girls, etc.), guy gets into major accident that eliminates him from doing whatever it was he was good at, guy overcomes massively debilitating mental and physical injuries to come back stronger than ever.
However, the good news is that this movie was not produced to be a good movie, or to have a solid story. It is one of the few, rare movies that was honestly produced to put forward a message, and, more specifically, a semi-auto-biographical message. With that in mind, the framing makes an inordinate amount more sense (and some of the stills that could be taken from the movie are downright impressive), the directness of the script seems to fall into place, and the lack of soundtrack makes the words… and the silences… that much more poignant. And since the story is nothing more than a vehicle for the message, it does not have to be terribly complicated… it just has to get from point A to point B, and this one definitely suffices at that.
And the message? Basically, it is a slightly more modern adaptation of Buckaroo Banzai’s primary theme – "Wherever you go, there you are." Or, rather, a quote from the movie sums it up slightly better:
1: Where are you?
2: Here.
1: What time is it?
2: Now.
1: What are you?
2: This moment.
Of course, I also enjoyed this particular exchange:
2: You’re out of your mind, you know that?
1: It’s taken a lifetime of practice.
The basic summation is that people spend too much time worrying about too many different things, oftentimes things that they simply cannot control, influence, or adapt in any way, shape, or form. They are so concerned with the past, and the future – more specifically, what they did wrong, and what they could do wrong – that they forget to live in the present. But that is only half of what the movie was trying to explain to its audience… the other part can be best explained, once again, by a quote from the film itself: "There is never nothing going on," or, as my mother always told me, "The true test of a man’s intelligence is sitting him in a train station, with ‘nothing’ to do, and a train that is still three hours out."
Being the enterprising young man I was, I naturally came up with writing a letter, reading the newspaper, watching traffic, reading a book, etc. etc. etc., but I missed the point of the exercise – and that is precisely what this movie is about.
I got my tickets for free, so I cannot honestly comment as to whether or not it would be worth your money. Probably not on the big screen, since it lacks any features (explosions, epic battles, massive armies, glorious fights, etc.) that would be enhanced by square footage. However, as something to watch when you are feeling introspective… it should fit the bill.
(This post would have gone up about 14 hours ago if my ISP (also, coincidentally, my apartment complex… I am starting to think that concept was a bad idea) had not gone and crashed on me. Gave me ample time to figure out just how little nothing there is going on when one has no internet access.)
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