I watched a movie Saturday night called "Warrior". My sister Tai loved this movie and told me I had to watch it. She said it was an inspirational movie about two brothers who were mixed martial arts fighters but said little else.
I've decided that I liked this movie...but I had to sleep on it before I fully came to that conclusion.From Scene 1 this movie was heavy. The dad played by Nick Nolte is an alcoholic and from what I gather he was a very abusive father and husband...but close to his 1000 days of being sober his younger son Tommy, comes back to get his fathers help in training for this mixed martial arts tournament. Meanwhile the older brother who is a physics teacher, is close to losing his home so he begins to train for the same fight. The story line isn't the greatest but the overarching theme was the broken relationship between this father and his sons and the consequences of abuse. Which was portrayed heavily in Tommy's character. Tommy's anger was palpable in every scene he was in.
The interaction between the sons and their father was painful to watch. I felt like they were resolved to this estranged, raw and heart wrenching relationship. This movie was saturated with pain, anger, and regret. During a difficult scene where Tommy yet again verbally attacks his father I turned to my friend and said.."Why do we chose to hurt eachother so much?"In the last few months I have had friends pass away, family become ill, friends dealing with painful medical issues or the loss of a child, as well as my own trials. No one in this life gets a pass on difficult and often times agonizing events that we have to deal with. So I think its fair to say that there is no reason for us to keep creating and perpetuating painful or hurtful situations...this journey we're on has it built right in. It made me reflect on my own actions...the words I use and the things I do that could affect another....that could hurt another. With reflection comes an awareness which hopefully leads to change.
The last scene of the movie the brothers walk out together...pain hopefully evolved into healing:) I'm a sucker for a happy ending.
So why did I decide that I liked "Warrior"?...the sliver of hope that was evident in both brothers towards the end. Even in the darkest and bleakest of situations I believe there is hope, light and forgivness. My cousin and sister both think I can be pretty gullible...which very well may be true..but I'm cool with that.
