I'm generally a sucker for inspirational movies. Some are angsty and self-important. "Pay It Forward" was 2 hours of my life that I'd really like back. Others stand above the crowd. "Pursuit of Happiness" is a movie anyone who has ever had dreams and struggled -needs- to see.
Yesterday I was in kind of a funk. So I looked to see what Blockbuster had sent me in the mail that week. It was "Perfume: Story of a Murderer" (heh ... no) or "Peaceful Warrior".
I kind of cringed. I was hesitant to put it in my rental queue because the trailer made it look like kind of predictable and shiney-happy. But I figured what the hell. I like Nick Nolte.
The trailer lied. It was obviously put together by Hollywood-ified producers who didn't -get- the movie at all.
See it. It's adapted from a 20 year old semi-autobiographical parable "Way of the Peaceful Warrior" by Dan Millman. The book has the tagline "A book that changes lives." And it probably does. Though I could imagine a lot of people might miss the point, too.
The philosphy of this story is DEEP. It's about how to live in the present, focusing on your dreams without hanging everything on a future you can't control, "taking out the trash" in your head, and experiencing every moment to its fullest. I was hearing a lot of the things that I've said myself in the past, but keep forgetting.
I just ordered two of this guy's books. Going by the sample pages on Amazon, his prose is kind of rough, so I got his more recent anecdotal collections.
Totally off topic, but I also included book 2 of the Dresden Files in the order. Jim Butcher rocks.
