Peaceful Warrior

While Im usually not a big fan of inspiring sports movies, I do have one to reccomend. Its called "Peaceful Warrior" and is the story of a college gymnast with olympic aspirations. Its based on Dan Millman's novel 'Way of the Peaceful Warrior' which is a work of autobiographical fiction. Autobiographical fiction is similar to historical fiction, where a true story is embelished and dramatized. Most times the fictionalization will be the thoughts and motives of historical figures (Braveheart) or a tragic romance (Titanic). 'Peaceful Warrior' is slightly different. Thoughts and motives are known because the story is autobiographical and there is no real romantic subplot to drag down the story. Instead, Millman's fictionalization comes by way of the mentor character (played surprisingly well by Nick Nolte). This character, named Socrates, is given almost deity-like powers of strength, intuition and wisdom. While I do not know if this character is based on an actual person or just a device to explain Millman's internal struggle, and even though its fairly unoriginal and cliche', it works fairly well.

I was attracted to this movie mainly by the director. He is known mainly for the horror movie "Jeepers Creepers" and its sequal. I was curious to see how a suspense/horror director would handle a sports drama. After watching the film and being quite impressed, I found out that this director (Victor Salva) wrote and directed 'Powder'(1995), which I remember being a little odd but very good.

As much as I liked the film, it did have a few moments that weren't the best. I think the overall casting could have been better. While Scott Mecholwicz (of 'Eurotrip' fame) did a pretty good job as the lead, I think they could have found someone who better looked the part. Also Nick Nolte seemed to try too hard to be the wise father figure. He spouts off a few too many one line philosophies for my taste. There is also a Gollum/Smeagol moment that I could do without.

Overall it was a really good movie. Typical inspirational sports plot, but very interesting directorial choices. The cinematography during the practice and competition sequences is particularly exceptional. I definately reccomend this movie, even if you aren't a fan of the sports genre.