Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that although the content in this inspirational sports drama is fairly mild -- the hero parties a lot and sleeps with a string of women in the beginning but eventually transforms his life -- it won't be interesting to most kids and tweens. It's better suited to teens who are prone to thinking about self discovery and analysis. The somewhat-New Agey tale is based on a true story and deals with big issues like inner emptiness and the meaning of life -- not exactly light entertainment.
Families can talk about the goal of inspirational "mentor" tales. What do movies and TV shows that follow this kind of storyline have in common? Who are they trying to reach? Why do you think so many involve sports? Families can also discuss Socrates' sometimes-mixed messages about drinking, fighting, health and discipline, and being "in the moment." A lot of these points are alluded to in other martial-arts flicks, but they're often lost in a fog of kung-fu fighting. Do you think this film's non-violent approach is more effective?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Charles Cassady, Jr.
In the 1960s and 1970s, a generation of young people bought heavily into a philosophy of higher consciousness and personal transformation. This was largely based on anthropologist Carlos Castenada's accounts of his alleged real-life experiences with a Yaqi Indian mystic; he wrote a series of books that were big sellers despite (or perhaps because of) their weird, unverifiable claims of turning into animals, becoming invisible, materializing on other worlds, and so forth.
In 1980, champion gymnast Dan Millman published an autobiographical book called Way of the Peaceful Warrior that's very much like a Carlos Casteneda story, but with far less hocus pocus (and no peyote smoking). Aimed at teen readers concerned about confidence, personal fulfillment, and excelling at sports, Millman's memoir/novel -- which has some religious elements, speaking of Jesus Christ in reverent terms as a "high master" -- also found a certain following, and Millman proceeded to produce sequels, spin-offs, and motivational seminars based on the book's message.
PEACEFUL WARRIOR is the movie version of Millman's popular book. You can best imagine it as The Karate Kid without the bullies and the fighting ... or even most of the karate. Instead, the narrative uses a solo, non-contact sport -- men's gymnastics -- to make its rather-New Agey points about spiritual growth and self-improvement.
In the college town of Berkeley, Calif., star gymnast Dan Millman (Scott Mechlowicz) is popular with both his teammates and the co-eds (many of whom he takes to bed). He's earned a reputation for arrogance, but beneath his cocky exterior Dan has nightmares that are symptomatic of feeling driven, fearful, and unhappy. One night at a gas station, Dan meets a silver-haired attendant (Nick Nolte) who seems to see right through to the young man's insecurities -- and then proceeds to astound Dan with a feat of superhuman agility.
Though Dan sarcastically nicknames the attendant "Socrates" and belittles his lowly job, the younger athlete later returns to the station hoping to learn the old man's secrets. Socrates becomes a gruff guru to the kid, making Dan do menial chores and lecturing him about how to be a "warrior" in life -- less in the fighting sense than in achieving a state of being completely aware, attuned, present, and undistracted at every moment.
Dan proves to be an impatient student and stops visiting Socrates out of frustration with his slow progress and his eccentric mentor's sometimes-infuriating behavior. But when Dan suffers a potential career-ending injury, he must call upon Socrates' teachings to persevere.
When you consider how often storytellers in and outside of Hollywood tend to conjure up simplistic antagonists -- aliens, drug smugglers, serial killers, vampires, orcs, hostile commie gymnasts from the USSR -- as obstacles for a flawed or uncertain hero to overcome, there's something sweetly sincere about how Peaceful Warrior sticks to self-improvement. Dan's conflict is with himself, end of story
That said, the dialogue is often hokey and preachy, the special effects and soundtrack music work a little too hard to tell viewers things they might have figured out on their own, and the film feels long at 120 minutes. On the plus side, Nolte gives a pleasantly low-key performance as the curmudgeonly Socrates; a lot of his Obi-Wan/Yoda/Master Splinter stuff is pleasantly unpredictable. Will watching Peaceful Warrior make you a better person? That's hard to say, Grasshopper. But it probably won't make anyone worse, and that's something of an achievement.
For some more overt renderings of Socrates' Zen-like philosophy, check out Keanu Reeves finding Nirvana in Little Buddha; the various screen adaptations of W. Somerset Maugham's novel The Razor's Edge, in which a globetrotting playboy seeks enlightenment; or the Korean monk saga Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentGlimpses of the hero in bed with assorted girls (suggestive of his manly jock status on campus). |
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ViolenceDan suffers a leg fracture from a car accident in a clinical close up. He also gets a mild taste of Socrates' martial-arts skills, but the older man later refrains from using violence in an alley brawl and mugging. |
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Social BehaviorThrough mentoring, Dan evolves from a cocky, disrespectful guy with an appetite for casual sex, junk food, and drink into a better person. Socrates demonstrates compassion for difficult people and even refuses to fight his way out of a robbery. (But some of Socrates' stunts -- like sitting in the rafters of a gym -- shouldn't be emulated.) |
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CommercialismA big plug for Texaco gas, and there's a natural tie-in with the books (and seminars) of author Dan Millman. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoSocial drinking. To Dan's surprise, Socrates doesn't abstain (which one might expect of a mentor type). |
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