Review of Peaceful Warrior (2006) by Irishcream — 20 Oct 2015

Every time I had fallen short of my expectations watching the screen versions of the books. A director's vision had failed to convey to the audience a transforming inner experience. I was sorrowfully disappointed with direction of J.Ostin's "Pride and Prejudice", 2005 , C.Bronte's "Jane Air", 2011 , F.S. Fizgerald 's "The Great Gatsby", 2013 and lots of others.

"The way of the peaceful warrior" screened on the ground of D.Millman's book is a pleasant exception from this list. It is one of the most inspiring masterpieces of modern movie-industry. I can confidently assert that this is the rare case when a film widely reflects a book.

Way of the Peaceful Warrior is a true story, based on the Dan Millman's autobiographical book. The book shares Dan's journey through university as a world-champion gymnast who has a passion to succeed and make it to the Olympics. On the surface, Dan has it all – he's good looking, popular, gets great grades, has women chasing him, his dad has plenty of money, great physical shape… yet, there's something missing. It isn't until one night Dan wakes up in the middle of the night and decides to take a walk to a nearby gas station that he encounters an old man that he calls Socrates, who begins mentoring him and exposes how deeply unhappy Dan is. The story essentially chronicles Dan's story through life to evolve himself into a Peaceful Warrior, with all the powerful lessons that he's learning from Socrates.

The movie is dripped with the inspiring scenes and deep quotations that everyone can relate to in some way. The biggest thing that hooked me was "Life brought rewards, but no lasting peace or satisfaction." Dan, like many of us, have been conditioned to believe that "When I achieve X-Y-Z, then I will be happy." And while most of us intellectually know that's not true, we still pursue goals believing it will give us that fulfillment. The lesson here is simple: nothing in your outer world will ever make you happy or fulfilled. Happiness can only come from the inside. When you truly come to this realization and stop deluding yourself, you can gain that sense of peace and satisfaction within.

I highly recommend to watch this movie. Everybody will find and learn a suitable lesson and reconsider some views on life.