Movie Review: The Peaceful Warrior
Review by Cate Montana
When the quasi-autobiographical book Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman came out in 1980, it made a quiet splash into the New Age community. But the perennial wisdom of the book and its magically weaving themes of the wise mentor, shattered dreams, resurrection, and the inspiring power of Presence gave it well-deserved longevity. It was a book you could love, with lessons you could reliably draw upon over the years.
That it took years to bring to the screen is a story in its own right. Producer Mark Amin picked up the book from a roommate in 1996 at a retreat and never put it down - not even after he finished reading. But, as is often the situation with movies of a more spiritual nature, it proved difficult to get the backing.
“It has been a seven-year road,” says Amin. “It didn't fit the Hollywood formula. We couldn't get it financed until literally our rights were running out. And we patched together financing combination of German tax shelters, a sale to Blockbuster, which at that time was financing theatrical films, and some of our own money. We finally went into production last year, and shot it.”
Picking up the story with Dan’s mysterious introduction to a solitary, late-night gas station attendant he dubs Socrates, Peaceful Warrior follows Dan’s exploits as a rising gymnastics star at the University of California, Berkeley.
Brilliant, brash and callously focused on success, Dan knows he is destined for Olympic Gold in men’s gymnastics, and thinks this is the only thing that will bring him true happiness in life. Subconsciously however, he’s looking for a whole new game - a whole new realm of meaning. Inner impulses - and a few astonishing feats by an otherwise non-descript Socrates - lead him to accept the mechanic as his teacher. Socrates, he decides, will be his secret weapon in blowing away the competition and garnering the gold.
What follows is a delightful, somber and terrifying journey through a human psyche enmeshed in its delusions of self-importance and its illusions about reality.
Gruff, often deadpan and serious, Nick Nolte is excellent as Socrates, and the whole screen lights up when the deep waters of his character’s humor surface. Scott Mechlowicz is appropriately intense and earnest as Dan, and the gymnastic sequences are truly inspiring.
Does Dan succeed at his dream? Well, without giving anything away, let’s just say that
Peaceful Warrior, the movie, makes it clear it’s the journey that counts, not the destination. Next > 1 2 3
