El camino del guerrero

I've appreciated Dan Millman's work for many years, and I have looked forward to seeing how well this film would be done. I saw it last night at a preview screening, and I was very pleased, and very moved, by it. The message is profound and important. While at one level it might be dismissed as something "we already know", when we look around our society, it's obvious we don't. Last night the actors themselves in a live teleconference after the screening shared how -- unlike most of their work -- being involved in THIS film changed their own lives too.

There are many moments which are quite funny. There is much that is quite moving. If you are at all open to the real story in the film, you will not walk out of the theater thinking only of your next snack.

There is not a classic battle between good guys and bad guys here. Rather it gives us some tools and insight to deal with the conflicts within ourselves. I hope that many, many people get to see this film.

A truly inspiring movie that everyone can relate to in some way. This movie is not going to please everyone because you have to see it for what it is, a movie about self awareness, its not a typical 'lets go out on a Friday night to be entertained' kind of movie. It's not just about gymnasts; anyone can relate to it. Take this movie for what it is, don't read too far into the message and you will enjoy it. Some people are saying it's a cheesy movie with an overplayed message, but I say that those people don't even see what the movie is about. Maybe it didn't speak to them, and maybe their expectations were off. The message is certainly not over-played, and there needs to be more movies of this up-coming genre.

I read this book when I was 19 and it actually changed my life. (I even became a Vegetarian. LONG before it became popular in the Midwest.) This movie was just OK. I'm glad I did not have to pay to see it. I took my Wife with me to see it and she, having not read the book, was confused as to how this story could have had such a profound effect on me. The movie is like a rather poor cliff-notes version of the book. The acting is a bit wooden and you never get to know the main character enough to care much about him. There are some significant changes to the plot from the book to the movie. These are major changes that reduce the importance and context of the lessons and reduce this to a "Karate-Kid" (as some other reviewers noticed) without a good script or decent action sequences and only so-so acting. Frankly, Sting would have been a better choice for the casting of Socrates.

My advice would be to read the book and skip the movie unless you "REALLY" like one of the actors in it and will see anything they make just because.

I really liked this movie. Gives a good feeling after watching it. I'm going to see it again with a couple of friends. Nick Nolte is one of my favorite actors and he does a great job here. I read the book by Dan Millman and I found it to be very uplifting. The other actors were pretty good, and the story moves along really well. I went to the Peaceful Warrior website which was pretty cool too. I think everyone ought to go see the movie. It's important to watch movies like this if you've every had difficult times in your life and have struggled a lot. It gives you a different perspective on things. I think the screenplay was very well written also.

I was invited to a screening of The Peaceful Warrior in NYC Thursday April 13th, having just learned of this film's existence a few days earlier.

I was looking forward to the film, but with some trepidation, considering that prior attempts at communicating spiritually oriented books or ideas had fallen short of my expectations and had fundamentally failed to convey to the audience a transforming inner experience; witness What the Bleep, Siddhartha, Little Buddha, and others.

Let me say this, simply and directly. They got it right this time, and they did it in a way which could be embraced by crowds at the multiplexes. By impressing the discovery of bona fide spiritual truths on a recognizable sports template, the movie makers will be carrying under-appreciated ideas and experiences to the masses. At least I hope so! I actually woke up early the morning after seeing this, with my mind full of things I might say in an exhaustive review. Never in my life have I felt that way about a movie before.

The reason this movie succeeds is that it follows one of the most basic rules for good story-telling: it shows rather than tells. Although some fundamental spiritual ideas are described with words, it is the plot and character development that proves the truth of those words. You see the transcendence and the realizations in the faces of the characters, and you are not left to wonder why. You understand.

The story, based on a book by Dan Millman, follows a college gymnast who has great potential but whose desire for success is one of the main obstacles standing in the way of that potential. In his mindless pursuit of a goal, he becomes sucked into the deep dark hole of life-is-what-happens-while-you're-making-other-plans. In its simplest message, our hero's real challenge is to find happiness by being present and finding interest and love for what's right in front of him.

The film doesn't try to oversimplify the content of a spiritual path into a single dogma; there are many other seeds of thought strewn along the path by Socrates, each of which could have been the basis for a different struggle to transcend relative unconsciousness.

For many years I have been convinced that non-religious spiritual thought and experience could be something to drive the world in a new direction. This movie provides an example of what life can be like if we ponder these thoughts and implement them in our lives in a concrete and practical way. It's not necessary to be a champion gymnast to derive the fundamental teachings from this film. It is a teaching that anyone can understand. This is why I see that The Peaceful Warrior can inspire those who embrace the possibilities which it offers to become peaceful guerrilla warriors, working tirelessly underneath the radar, changing the world.

This is not only a good movie, it's an important one.