Peaceful Warrior

Plot

A chance encounter with a stranger changes the life of a college gymnast.

Release Year: 2006

Rating: 7.0/10 (9,433 voted)

Critic's Score: 40/100

Director:
Victor Salva

Stars: Scott Mechlowicz, Nick Nolte, Amy Smart

Storyline
Dan Millman has it all: good grades, a shot at the Olympic team on the rings and girls lining up for the handsome Berkely college athlete all teams mates look up to with envy. Only one man shakes his confidence, an anonymous night gas station attendant, who like Socrates, keeps questioning every assumption in his life. Then a traffic crash shatters Dan's legs, and his bright future. Now Socrates's life coaching is to make or break Dan's revised ambition.

Writers: Kevin Bernhardt, Dan Millman

Cast:

Scott Mechlowicz
–

Dan Millman

Nick Nolte
–

Socrates

Amy Smart
–

Joy

Tim DeKay
–

Coach Garrick

Ashton Holmes
–

Tommy

Paul Wesley
–

Trevor

B.J. Britt
–

Kyle

Agnes Bruckner
–

Susie

Tom Tarantini
–

Thug with Gun

Beatrice Rosen
–

Dory

Ray Wise
–

Doctor Hayden

Scott Caudill
–

Thug One

(as Scott 'Jesic' Caudill)

Matthew Prater
–

Thug Two

(as Matthew John Prater)

Bart Conner
–

Himself

Jimmy Bradley
–

Commentator One

Taglines:
There are no ordinary moments.

Details

Official Website:
Official site |

Release Date: 13 April 2007

Filming Locations: Fullerton, California, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $10,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $80,602
(USA)
(4 June 2006)
(10 Screens)

Gross: $3,960,414
(USA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

USA: 120 min
 |
Argentina: 120 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Mark Amin, a producer, appears as a service station customer in the car while Dan is 'holding the pose.'

Goofs:

Continuity:
While Dan and Socrates have a conversation in the garage, Socrates is organizing and placing small boxes into a cabinet door. The very last shot of the cabinet shows the boxes in a different arrangement than they were during their discourse.

Quotes:

Coach Garrick:
[to Dan]
Doctors tell me you'll never compete again.

User Review

The first spiritually oriented movie that really works!

Rating: 10/10


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.