Five times Films were inspiring

There are times in life when films, a song or artwork speaks directly to our soul.  Sometimes it isn’t even a complete text.  Sometimes it is only a quote or a line that illustrates an important life lesson and that lesson sticks with us.  

For various reasons, I have held onto a few lines from films over the years because they gave me hope.  Lines that have taught me something or reminded me of a valuable lesson.  Looking back, these lines have stayed around because of the importance of what they taught me about myself.

The films I discuss here are not here for their inherent value as film works.  I have listed them because at one time in my life, they left a message rattling about in my brain that I found helpful. I have, of course, included the quote.

Jim Lovell – Apollo 13:

“You never know what events are going to transpire to get you home.”

Sometimes you are so down that you can’t get off the couch. Sleep seems to be the only escape.  When you’ve all but given up, this quote comes in handy.

Jim Lovell had once been in an airplane at night that had suddenly lost all its electrics and was low on fuel. Resigned to the fact that he would have to ditch the plane in the sea of Japan, he looked down one last time and noticed a trail of fluorescent algae that had been stirred up by the wake of his aircraft carrier.  He was able to follow the trail and land safely on board.  

Jim Lovell was also the Commander of the Apollo 13 Space Mission.  The same “Houston, we have a problem” mission that was imortalised by Tom Hanks.  Stuck on the wrong side of the moon with a broken spacecraft is not a place most people would like to be.  Despite his predicament, Jim Lovell was able to maintain hope.

What Jim Lovell knew was that he had a team of specialists working to get him and his crew home.  He trusted them and did what they said.  Lovell knew that if there was any chance of living, it would be with them.

Jim Lovell also believed in himself, his experience and the people close to him.  He trusted them to do their jobs.  Lovell was able to recount his experience over the Sea of Japan to his crew and utter the inspirational quote to inspire them.

The sadness for Jim Lovell in this experience was that he never walked on the moon.  Still he knew that his wife and children didn’t deserve to live in fear of losing him again and so he walked away from his dream for his family.

Sometimes things go wrong through no fault of our own.  Sometimes we lose our way.  It is at these times that we must communicate our problem, trust our people and keep trying, because we never know what might happen to get us home.

Bruce Nolan – Bruce Almighty:

“Be the miracle.”

When times are tough and the ‘black dog’ is nipping at your heels, it is easy and understandable to lose hope.  Sometimes you need to forget your own needs and focus on others for inspiration. Hard as that may be, sometimes we need to interrupt our negative thought patterns and be the miracle

Jim Carey plays the eponymous character in Bruce Almighty.  The story of a self involved man who focuses entirely on his own welfare.  Given the power of God as an experiment by God himself, Bruce eventually learns that happiness is in caring for others first, not in giving himself everything he ever wanted. Not in fast cars and fame.

The lesson I wish to focus on here is not selfishness.  Sometimes problems occur in our lives through no fault of our own. Good things happen to bad people.  The lesson here is about motivation.  If we live for ourselves, we will eventually be disappointed.  If we live for others, our loved ones, then we will be fulfilled.  We will survive the dark times.

Bruce learns to “be the miracle” in the lives of the people he cares about.  He puts the needs of everyone he comes across in his daily routine first, and this makes all the difference.  

When things are dark and you can find no reason for participating in your daily routine, no reason to get off the couch, then focus on your loved ones.  Get up and mow the lawn because it will make your partner happy, take your child to soccer because they want you there, Do the washing up, buy your colleagues a coffee, do whatever needs doing for those around you.  Just remember to remind yourself that you are doing it to make someone else’s life better.  It will give you a boost.

Chuck Noland – Castaway:

“You get up each day because you never know what the tide will bring”.

Chuck Noland was the only survivor of an airplane wreck.  Stranded on a deserted island, Chuck survives near starvation, some horrible self dentistry and all manner of challenges for several years, before finally being rescued.

Near the end of the movie, safe back in Memphis, he explains to his buddy how he kept motivation.  He gave himself hope by reminding himself that something useful or beneficial might float onto his little island with the tide.

The obvious point here is that it is essential to maintain some resemblance of hope, no matter how small.  Maintain hope, so that eventually the tide can bring something nice your way.  Plan a holiday, order something nice online, organise a get together with a dear friend, take yourself out for breakfast.  After all, you never know what the tide might bring.

Ferris Bueller- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:

” Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it.”

The message here is obvious.  Ferris is quite clear about it.  Every once in a while, you need to be kind to yourself.

Life is tough.  We are hyper connected and have responsibility and accountability in almost every area of our lives.  We have money issues, mortgages, lockdowns, work stresses, children to look after and all manner of personal issues.  If we don’t take time to be thankful for what we have, be kind to ourselves and learn to appreciate the moment, then we will miss the good bits.

The past is gone. The future hasn’t arrived yet.   The only time we have is right now.  I’ll bet Ferris is into mindfulness these days.

Clarence Odbody- It’s a wonderful life:

“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

For those of you who haven’t seen It’s a wonderful life, I will bring you up to speed.  George Bailey has a tremendous amount of problems leading up to Christmas.  So troubled is he that he considers ending his life.  In the process, he meets an angel named Clarence Odbody.  Clarence shows George what his town would be like if George had not done all his good deeds over time.  The movie ends with George embracing his life and fasmily having had a complete change of heart.

When we are down and naturally being hard on ourselves, it is easy to forget the good that we might have done in our lives.  We are, after all, our harshest critics. People in deep depression really do believe that others would be better off without them.

That is why we need to keep communicating with our loved ones.  Don’t be afraid to say ‘I love you’.  Tell your family how much you appreciate them.  Be thankful for kindness.  Forgive often. Don’t leave something nice left unsaid. Remind people that they are so much more than what they earn and how powerful they are.  Say it loud. Say it everyday.

Rocky Balboa – Rocky Balboa:

“Nobody is gonna hit as hard as life, but it aint a matter of how hard you can hit.  It’s a matter of how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.  It’s how much you can take and keep moving forward.  That’s how winning is done.”

Everybody loves an underdog.  At least that is true in Australia.  Rocky Balboa is the archetypal underdog.  He has taken many beatings, both literal and figurative, and somehow survives. For someone as tough as a heavyweight boxing champ, it almost seems ironic that his message isn’t about being tough.  Rocky is, however, clever enough to redefine ‘winning’.

The message here is about resilience.  Rocky, like all of us, faces his fair share of knock downs.  His story isn’t about how he was so tough that nobody knocked him over, rather about how many times he got back up.  He was able to get up one more time than his opponent.  That isn’t pure toughness, that is resilience,

Thankfully resilience can be taught.  Take time out, be kind to yourself, be kind to others, be grateful and live in the now.  If you do these things regularly, you will get back up again to fight another day.  

There are many lines from many films that I could have discussed, but these are the ones that stuck with me.  The ones that are most relevant for this blog on mental health.  There is, though, one line that needs to be mentioned.  A line so moving and important that it speaks for itself.  That line is from Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption:

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no  good thing ever dies.”

Here’s to hope, friends.

Related links

https://thegoodthebadandtheunrelated.com/kindness-to-yourself-and-others-is-a-rebellion-against-

Rocky Balboa (2006) – Running Steps Scene – YouTube

Hope is a good thing…..The Shawshank Redemption – YouTube