The Movie That CHANGED My Life

So, I have just finished watching the movie 'Soul', which inspired me to write this newsletter almost instantly, as the storyline and message behind it are some of the best, if not the best, of any movie I‘ve had the pleasure of watching

If you haven’t watched it, it’s on Disney+, and I highly recommend you give it a watch if you haven’t done so already.

Now, at this point, I think I may have watched it around four times, if not five, but it gives me the same feeling and doesn’t fail to make me pretty emotional every time.

Some of the principles in it are so eye-opening, and as naive and childish as it may sound with this coming from a 20-year-old, this movie can and most likely will change your worldview in an instant if you apply some thought behind everything that’s going on in the film.

This movie never fails to open my eyes to the world as well as the meaning of life.

To put it short, the movie is about a man named Joe Gardener who’s a music teacher at a school, doing a job that he doesn’t inherently like but does because he loves both music and jazz. Teaching music allows him to somewhat tick those boxes, but it doesn’t give him fulfilment, nor does it allow him to live his life, but it’s comfortable enough to keep him happy enough and allow him to keep his head above the water.

Now, I feel like I’m writing an English essay here, analysing a film, but I believe that Disney has done this to portray most people’s lives. They work a job that they don’t particularly enjoy, but they also don’t despise, so they don’t feel compelled to quit because it makes them content enough and just about keeps their head above the water.

While doing so, the majority of the population rides the wave of life like a feather in the wind and lives each day with the intent to make it to the weekend so that they can then ‘enjoy’ life.

Anyway, Joe’s dream was always to be a jazz performer in a band, and one day he gets that opportunity and, of course, takes it like a dog with a biscuit. But, after getting so caught up in the excitement of the fact that he’s just accomplished his life’s dream, he rings his friend, and whilst doing so, dies by falling down an open manhole cover while on the phone.

Again, I feel like I’m writing an English GCSE essay here, but Disney has done this to portray the fact that each of us can get so caught up in our lives that we disregard each day for what it is and just live in the future, awaiting that happy moment to arrive. Similar to this example, Joe finally reaches his dream of joining a famous jazz band with one of the most famous jazz artists on the planet.

It’s hard to explain the next part as it’s very fictional and what you could call Disney-like, but basically, Joe dies and is sent to ‘life beyond’. Now, Joe doesn’t want to die, as he believes that his life has only just started (hence the fact that he’s just achieved his lifelong goal), so he does all he can to get his life back, and before the show in the evening, so that he can perform with the band; otherwise, he’s missed out on fulfilling his dream.

To explain it as best as I can. In the film, there’s the ‘life beyond’ for all those who have died on earth, as well as the contrary, the ‘life before’, which is for all those yet to be born.

To get back into his body (or, in this case, his corpse), Joe must get himself a pass to go back to earth and must do so before the concert that evening so that he can accomplish his dream, which he does just that.

He makes it to the concert in time, doing exactly what he’d always wanted to do, being the huge jazz fan that he was, and playing the piano in a jazz band with one of the most famous jazz artists in the world.

The concert couldn’t have gone better, and to make it even more special, Joe did a solo on the piano in front of the whole audience, and his mum was also there to celebrate his accomplishment.

Once the concert was over, he celebrated with his mum as well as the rest of the band; however, they then all left, leaving just Joe and ‘Dorothea Williams’ (the famous jazz artist), standing by the side of the road together.

Joe, breaking the awkward silence, inquires to Dorothea, ‘So, what happens next?’, to which she responds, ‘We come back tomorrow night and do it all again’.

Feeling somewhat unsettled, Joe has a slight pause to cogitate the situation, and after pondering for a few seconds, he states, ‘It’s just that I’ve been waiting on this day for my entire life... I thought I’d feel different.

After a long pause, Dorothea reciprocates by saying (and this is the juicy part): ‘I heard this story about a fish. He swims up to this older fish and says, ‘I’m trying to find this thing they call the ocean’, ‘The ocean?’, says the older fish. ‘That’s what you’re in right now’. ‘This?’ says the younger fish. ‘This is water. What I want is the ocean.’’

Now, how I interpret this story is another way of describing a person’s life. So many of us go about life thinking about the future rather than appreciating each of the present moments we’re in. This movie never fails to make me think about how much of my day-to-day life I take for granted, and I’m sure anyone reading this can relate to some extent.

How many times have you waited weeks, if not months, for a holiday with nothing to think about other than excitement, which takes your mind off and stops you from appreciating all that’s happening in each moment prior?

I’ll take a guess and say it multiple times, as I have experienced the same thing.

But then, once you get on the holiday, you feel somewhat underwhelmed. Not because the holiday wasn’t enjoyable or what you expected, but because of a different feeling that you can’t quite put your finger on? Maybe the feeling that the thought of it inside your head was much better than the holiday itself? I’m not sure. But I think most of us can agree that we’ve experienced this feeling in the past.

A dead person would do anything to be in your body, yet we all take it for granted day by day. Imagine how much more you would value life if, despite being on your alleged deathbed, you could recover and live out the rest of your life fully.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you how to live your life, but keep this as a reminder to appreciate each present moment you’re in, even if you do have something like a holiday to look forward to, as you don’t know what you’re missing, and you certainly don’t want to look back in regret.

Take this with a grain of salt coming from a 20-year-old who’s honestly yet to live the vast majority of his adult life outside school, and I’m not an elderly man with his whole life to look back on.

However, this is my current take on life in general, and I hope it can be of some value to others.

The film is called ‘Soul’ and is available to watch on Disney+.