Defending Your Life - A Movie ReviewDefending Your Life is one of my all time favorite movies...why?...
#1 It deals with "after life" issues.
#2 Rip Torn is in it!
#3 It suggests that one purpose of life on earth may be to face our fears.
#4 It's very FUNNY!
Check out this Short Video from Defending Your Life:
Defending Your Life: Summary Daniel (played by Albert Brooks) is killed in a car crash and wakes up in "Judgement City" where he will watch clips from 9 days of his life. Daniel and Bob Diamond (his defense counsel played by Rip Torn), ...defend his life...or argue the point that Daniel showed that he has moved past the fears that have kept him on earth in past lives and he is ready to "...move on" to the next level of existence. Lee Grant plays Lena Foster, who argues the point that Daniel is still very afraid and needs to return to earth to continue to work on his fears. ...When NOT in the "court room" people in judgement city can play games, eat, bowl, EAT!, play put-put golf and of course EAT!!! More on this later... Along the way, Dan meets Julia (played by Meryl Streep) and falls in love... Julia was a very courageous person on earth and will definitely "move on"...Julia is only looking at four days of her life...mostly just to admire her courage. Daniel, was a rather timid person, often afraid to make the big moves in his life...again he is looking at 9 days of his life...mostly to laugh at his timid and fearful moves....and also funny moments as well. Defending Your Life: Do I face my fears? Hell no. I avoid facing my fears at all costs...but I'm getting better. The fears that are keeping me from doing what I want to do, or creating what I want to create...these are the types of fears that we are given to overcome. The first time I watched this movie, I really had no clue what I wanted...now I have a better idea. I want to...
To work this web biz daily
Speak in front of people
Sing
Things like that...
Now that I know a few things that I want...some fears and obstacles will show up...I think I will have a much better chance of overcoming whatever shows up, now that I know a few things that I really want. I am writing this from the metro train station while waiting for the train...if I drive, it takes just as long, but I can't write while I drive. This is an example of getting over a excuse for not writing..."I don't have time!"...excuse...fear same thing really... I also changed my work hours to start an hour later..that was easy and it gives me more time in the mornings, when I like to write. These steps seem easy NOW... I have tried things like this before...facing fears is not easy...it's not supposed to be...but one can create habits to help... ...take baby steps
...experiment...try new things
...keep asking yourself what you want
...Rinse. Repeat.
This film suggests that one of humanities goals for life on earth is to overcome and face fears. Although Julia saved people from a burning building, I think the fears that we must face are more subtle than that. I have struggled with this all my life...what do I want? When living in fear, "tuning out of life" with TV and beer seemed like "fun"...I still like tv, beer, movies, and the like, but I REALLY want to... Grow in areas that I can take with me when I die...
I want grow in love, power, truth, compassion...and courage...I can't grow that way watching TV and drinking beer.
Doing things in order to grow should be a challenge, and make us face fears. Today, I used the LA metro for my commute to/from work...seems like an easy answer to help me... Write
Not drive in LA traffic
...this was after I felt like I was going to cry when starting my drive home the day before... Now, I know why I was upset...not due to the traffic alone, but mostly because I was wasting time that I could use to grow. Defending your Life: Do I get what I want in life? Example #1...quit a job for a better offer... Recently, I took a new job...it seemed better and a lot more challenging...at first I was afraid it was more than I could handle...then I said YES! I got over the fear pretty quickly and it really has worked out quiet nicely... Example #2...I still don't really want a job...so that is still a compromise... I would LOVE to have the real courage to just quit the job and see how well I would do making ends meet working on this web biz full time...I don't have that much courage...yet... ...I could say it's my wife's fault...but that's a cop out...it's my fault...I have to accept the truth...I just don't have enough courage to NOT a have a pay check... ...that's ok...some day I will and then I will move on to the next level... Defending your Life: Do I take chances? I take baby chances...here's a for instance...please laugh because it should be funny... ...I knew there was a park and ride at the transit center...but I had never parked there before...part of me wanted to drive to the transit center and check out the parking lot the night before I drove there the first time so I knew where to go.... ...good for me...I threw caution to the wind and just showed up (about 20 minutes early!) and parked...WOW now that's daring... ...sure I did things that from the outside seem like they took courage...and I'm sure some of them did... ...I did Li'l Abner in High School...(it's a musical) and I really nailed the audition (which was kinda scary) then I got the LEAD male role...NOW THAT WAS SCARY...but I did it and it was great... Defending your Life: What did I risk, to grow? Not much really...but then again...I should give myself some credit...I was more risky than some and less than others... It's been a while since I have risked something important...I could say that's just not my style and I guess that would be accurate... ...it sounds like an excuse now, but I really don't like real risk that is not mitigated some what... ...I risk money everyday in the stock market...I don't get to upset about losing money, I know I will make it back...or not...I doesn't really mean that much to me... For things that really matter...I don't take too many risks...and if I do take some risks...I take all kinds of steps to prevent disaster... Defending your Life: Do I identity with Daniel or Julia? Watching this movie, I definitely identify with Daniel more than Julia...she's great...but Daniel is far more like me...scared...timid...and afraid... I have come a long way since about 2005...but for up to that point I was totally motivated by fear and avoidance and...always I was searching for the reason that life seemed so INSANE... Sometime in 2005, I started to learn that I was a little INSANE and began to get grow to my current position of "a little less insane" and a bit less afraid... While I was deployed to Qatar during my Air Force time...I found out that I was really bad at and afraid to back up any vehicle into a parking space... ...later on...I bought and owned an RV (Recreational Vechile..about the size of a bus)...I learned how to back that rig up into camping spaces that we really tight... That whole episode of my life was about find and facing fears... ...the fears that I have left today inside me are hiding really well...it takes me longer to find them than it does to face them... Defending your Life: Is the afterlife like this? Who knows?!? I think that the cool people from earth that show up to judgment city would skip out on the trial out all together...they just might say... ...it's up to me what I do and where I go...take your trial and stick it where the sun don't shine! ...and then pig out all day...steal trams and create a real ruckus until they are asked to leave... ...or perhaps...these type of folks would just bypass the way station all together... Outside of earthy creations...there is only ONE consciousness and no separations...and yet there are levels... The residents in judgment city were still egoistic and prideful of their brain size...so judgment city is still just another training ground I guess... And Earth is a lot of fun, once you learn how to play the game...so while defending your life may seem scary...the worst thing that can happen is that you come back to earth...that's not so bad... Defending your Life: Ohh...to eat anything you want without gaining weight...this is a food movie! One of the best parts of the this movie is all the funny bits in the restaurants where everyone can eat all they want without gaining any weight... ...at one point, a waiter gives Daniel 9 pies...and he takes them back to his hotel room... Check out Defending your Life...then send me your thoughts using the contact form...I would love to her what you think.
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