Peaceful Warrior: Making journey itself the destination!

Well, one has heard of setting a goal, a destination and striving or journeying towards that goal and destination relentlessly. But can journey itself be a destination? Can one enjoy the present moment instead of trying hard to make the best of it to achieve something in the future?

“The journey is what brings us happiness, not the destination!” This is the lesson Dan Millman learns the hard way in the film Peaceful Warrior. And he learns this through an illusory character whom he calls Soc (Socretes). 

Director: Victor Salva

Film Clip

Dan is a gymnast who wants to achieve greatness in his life. He wants to be a great gymnast. But destiny has other ideas for him, as his plans are shattered due to a series of accidents. And then he meets this character, or he imagines he meets; who teaches him some hard lessons. He teaches Dan that what is important is to enjoy each moment and not to worry about what fruit it would bring. He teaches him that life will be wasted if one only thinks about the destination and forgets the journey. Dan learns that even journey itself can be one’s destination. It is only this way that one can make the most of life.

The film directed by Victor Salva and based on the novel Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman is an inspirational sports film that teaches a different lesson from what the world would usually teach. At the end of the film we see Dan just giving himself totally to the given moment on the still rings of the gymnasium weaving an incredible poetry of movements raising the eyebrows of one and all. Of course, the audience by now knows the secret which is not revealed to the judges and the live audience.

Indeed Peaceful Warriour is an inspiring tale to all those who only think of results and goals, forgetting, thus, to relish the given moment.  What matters most is that one lives entirely in the present moment. 

- Melwyn Pinto SJ

Cairo 678: Fighting sexual harassment

Egypt has a fairly good film culture. The country, though Muslim, is not as orthodox and fundamentalist as certain other theocratic countries. In the last few years, the film fraternity in Egypt has been releasing quality films.

Cairo 678 is one such Egyptian film in Arabic language that came in 2010. Supposedly based on real life incidents, it revolves around a feminine theme: self defence against sexual harassment. How should a woman react when she becomes the victim of derision, eve-teasing and groping in public places? Why should a woman be exploited and ridiculed in such fashion just because she is a woman? And how is a woman supposed to respond when the entire society is governed by principles and norms prescribed by men to suit their own agenda? The solution that the women in this film find is self defence of a unique kind: they pork needles to the vital parts of those who grope them in the crowded buses.

Director: Mohammed Diab

Film Clip

The plot has several twists and turns, giving the film quite a surprising narrative of three women from three different walks of life. One of them is a stage comedian, who has to face a near death situation of eve teasing and road rage of a hooligan. The three-some come together to devise their own methods to fight sexual harassment. While you sympathise with these women who resort to unusual means to protect themselves, you also wonder if such means are effective in the long run. Further, you may also be confronted with the question as to should not society bow its head in shame for driving women to such helplessness.

Director Mohammed Diab has, no doubt, raked up a healthy debate through a powerful film. It is not preachy, neither is it mellowed in conveying the one important message: a male-dominated society cannot think it can play around with the assumed weakness of women. The fact that this message comes from a film directed by a male director adds to the seriousness of the subject. 

- Melwyn Pinto SJ