My 35 Day Life #ReThink explained through Hollywood Blockbusters.

I’m always conflicted when I watch the movie The Rock. The head bad guy who is holding the hostages for ransom happens to be a decorated war hero, trying to solicit compensation and honors for the forgotten soldiers that died under his command. A noble end, attempted by some very terrible means. (*spoiler alert*) Just before be dies, he says “what have I done”, in reference to the mercenaries he has hired to help him on this ‘mission’ who unlike him, are just in it for themselves. 

So why the realization after the damage has already been done? Why the change of heart? 

My 35 Day Life #ReThink explained through Hollywood Blockbusters.

My favorite character in the movie The Mighty Ducks is Goldberg the Goalie. He’s got talent, but he is absolutely terrified of being hit by a hockey puck - a big problem if you’re trying to be an effective goalie!

The coach does something (which would likely get him fired or arrested by today’s standards), he ties Goldberg to the net and has the entire team take shots at him. After a few moments of terror, he realizes the tremendous pain he was anticipating wasn’t real. He got over his fear and he went on to be a great goalie.

My 35 Day Life #ReThink explained through Hollywood Blockbusters.

I’ve always loved the move Jerry Maguire. It’s a feel-good story about reconnecting with your own conscience, and actually having the courage to evolve. The main character doesn’t like what he has become, what his organization has become, so he sends a company wide memo with his ideas for a new future, his mission statement. To us in the audience, it feels less like he could actually spark any changes in his organization and more like Felix Cortez burning all his ships after reaching the new world in order prevent his own retreat! Forcing yourself to follow your own conscience, very admirable and movie-worthy. After sends it out, he immediately gets fired. Which gives me a brief moment of pause in writing this … just kidding … or am I ?

My 35 Day Life #ReThink explained through Hollywood Blockbusters.

Not once have I ever watched the final scene of Cool Runnings without getting emotional. At the end of the movie after (*spoiler alert*) the Jamaican Olympic bobsled team crashes a few hundred feet from the finish line, then picks up their bobsled, walks it across the finish line to a crowd of cheering fans and fellow competitors who they have won over with their perseverance - then the final caption reads “four years later they returned ... as equals”.

Acceptance is something we are all looking to achieve, in one way or another, every day. Anyone who tells you otherwise isn’t being honest with you, or maybe they’re not being honest with themselves. Lately our culture has put a lot of focus on accepting individuals for who they are, but there is also an acceptance of purpose that motivates us (or demotivates if it’s missing). 

My 35 Day Life #ReThink explained through Hollywood Blockbusters.

One of the movie quotes that has haunted me the most throughout my life was when the father of Robert the Bruce told him “all kings lose heart”. It was the moment after he sold out William Wallace and submitted to the rule of King Longshanks of England. I thought to myself, here is a father telling his son that in order to rule, you have to break from the people you wish to lead. To be cold and calculating, in order to protect your own interests. To do what you know in your heart is wrong, by simply operating without it.

My 35 Day Life #ReThink explained through Hollywood Blockbusters.

Twister is one of my wife's favorite movies. The goal of the adrenaline seeking crew is to collect data from inside the eye of a tornado, in order to better understand how they are work. (*spoiler alter*) Before they could finally succeed in their mission, they willing put themselves in the path of the storm, in harms way ... a bunch of times! That's about how day two of my ReThink feels right now. Lots of energy just swirling around with no discernable pattern or direction. Predicting what thoughts the next hour will bring, is impossible. 

My 35 Day Life #ReThink explained through Hollywood Blockbusters.

I’ve watched the movie The Martian no less than 100 times over the course of the pandemic. The fundamental lesson of ‘solve enough problems, and you get to go home’ has echoed in my mind as we have all being doing whatever needs to be done in order to survive. I’m actually watching it again right now as I write this. 

At the end of the movie (*spoiler alert*) as Matt Damon has returned home to Earth, a caption pops up “Day 1”. It’s the “and now what?” question I think a lot of us are asking ourselves these days. For those who actively engaged, or those who took up a defensive position, or both, it seems impossible to come out on this end of something so profound without lasting damage.