Peaceful Warrior

Didn’t really have much expectations in regards to this movie when I first watched the trailer. Looked like an interesting feel good movie, and that was what it was. I personally thought the story was pretty good and the cinematography was excellent. They did a really good job with the slow motion effects (nothing spectacular, but it fit the story nicely). Plus the fact that this was shot at UC Berkeley (tons of free advertising for Cal). w00t! There were couple places I didn’t recognize, but oh well, maybe I’ll try to find it next time I visit.

I do have to say, the trailer had misguided me quite a bit. The storyline did not flow as I had expected it to according to the trailer. Also there were scenes that were intertwined with dialog that occurred much later on.

Official Site
IMDb: User Rating: 7.0/10
Yahoo! Movies: The Critics: C+ / Yahoo! Users: B-
Rotten Tomatoes: Rating: 21% / Average Rating: 4.6/10
Apple Trailer
Amazon.com Soundtrack
Amazon.com Book
MY RATING: 6.5/10

Spoilers: (Show)

The story revolves around a gymnast named Dan Millman, which apparently is a real person and the author to the book: Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives. Dan Millman did in fact go to Cal and co-captained the the gymnastic team there. His Wikipedia article says 1964 World Trampoline Championship in London, but is that thing called a trampoline? I always thought a trampoline was more of those jumpy bouncy things.

Anyway, the movie begins with a very good gymnast that has a very big ego and pride. However, a motorcycle accident shatters his leg. Shatter is different from breaking as shattering a leg means the femur bone or whatever else is in your leg breaks into many many pieces. In his case, it was 17. I personally don’t think the real Dan Millman went through this, and this part was most likely fictional for his self help book.

He meets this old guy at a gas station (which apparently he met way before the accident). He calls him Socrates because he seems rather wise and has a bunch of wisdom and philosophy he tries to impart onto Dan. Dan at first wasn’t receptive, but when all hope was gone, he had nowhere else to turn to, and begin to realize there’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge, basically the difference between knowing and doing.

We never really did find out what the old man’s name was. Dan calls him Socrates and I think Joy calls him Big Buddha. Joy is a girl that has also stood by him during the difficult times and Dan and Joy met through this old guy. However in real life, Joy is Dan’s wife, which he implies late in the movie.

I guess the lesson the movie/book wanted to teach was forget the past, don’t worry about the future, live in the moment. There’s something special happening every moment and no moment is ordinary.