Sometimes when things don’t go my way, and life is really messed up, I have this urge to stuff a few clothes in my backpack and take off, on a solo hike on a lonely mountain or a long-lost road, where everyone’s a stranger. On one such day when I was seriously contemplating the idea of running away while sitting idle on the sofa and surfing my phone with a scowl, I accidentally landed on the section of inspirational movies on Netflix and one of my favorite movies caught my eye.’ Into the Wild’ and my face lit up with a smile.
Follow Your Heart (Into the Wild)
For a second I couldn’t believe my eyes, I scoped some ice-cream to lighten my already happy mood and settled down to watch the movie for the hundredth time. It’s a movie of a law school student who gives up his lavish lifestyle in search of adventure. His adventures take him to the remote area just north of the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, flash floods, and river-rafting through violent Colorado river. In the end, however, he ends up in an abandoned bus, only to realize that life is with friends and family. And that nature is harsh and uncaring. He dies by eating some poisonous plants, out in the wild.
The end of the movie jolted me back to reality, slowly ebbing away the thoughts of running away from home into the wild. I gradually got lost in my thinking about all such inspirational movies which have taught me great life lessons.
It’s Your Life, Make It Large (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)
One such movie was Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara – 3 friends, a road trip in Spain, lessons for life. While diving into the deep blue waters of Costa Brava, they realize that the beauty of life is by simply breathing. Then overcoming their fear of heights by skydiving from Seville, the finally reach Pamplona to run with the bulls. While running for their lives they discover their own strength, in overcoming the fear of death. My favorite road trip movie.
Bonded freedom (Highway)
Another road trip movie that struck me was Highway. It takes us on a journey all the way from Delhi to hilly Kumaoun mountain peaks. A rich girl is kidnapped by some goons, and instead of being scared she finally feels free from the bonds of her family. I started day-dreaming about getting kidnapped just to break the monotony of my life when I started feeling like the protagonist of movies like The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty.
Dreams Do Come True (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter daydreams of adventures to make his mundane life adventurous. This movie does a brilliant job of weaving in both believable and fantastic fantasy elements together. Walter faces real adventure like being rescued from a shark- volcano infested waters of Greenland, or the bike ride along a Greenland highway on his way to the, in which his adventurous dreams actually come true. This one’s a wanderlust movie with a difference.
The Last Hike To Summit (Everest)
Going down the memory lane of adventure and inspirational movies my eyes zeroed down on the picture of Mount Everest hanging on the wall. How could I forget Everest – the movie which is a frantic struggle for continuation during a doomed voyage to the top of the world’s highest peak! The fierce weather of extreme altitude affecting eyesight, frost bites, near-death experiences, pain, and loss of fellow mountaineers and surviving despite all odds. The movie inspires you, to never give up in even in times of challenging situation, to just push forward. It’s one of thebest adventure movies I’ve watched.
Refreshing with my new thoughts, such movies make me eager to face the day to day challenges that life was going to throw at me. But even today, given a choice I would definitely opt for life, out in the wild, under the deep blue sky, listening to the gurgling sound of a river running nearby…
Great post