A Slice of Life

It was Alfred Hitchcock who said  "In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director.” A perfect way to sumamrise the inspiration for any documentary; Life as it is, lived by those who live it, under the influence of who created Life. In this section, you can read my reviews for some of the more well-known documentaries that come out of Hollywood. Although not as big or widely seen as the movies, documentaries can have more of an affect in shaping and inspiring us to see life from a different point of view than any film ever could. 

 Finding Joe

The Matrix. Star Was. Harry Potter. Iron Man. The Wizard of Oz. Alice in Wonderland. 

What do these movies have in common?

They’re some of the biggest and most successful films of all time, featuring characters we know and love and stories we couldn’t forget. But above all that, is just one thing they have in common.

It’s a style of story telling you have seen, heard and read, recognising it in these films, as well as a thousand other movies, books, songs, poems and campfire stories. It’s an arc, that is as old as time itself, and may not be recognisable to you by the name it’s called, but when you make the connection, you’ll realise you know this story arc very well.

It’s called, “The Hero’s Journey”. And it’s the study and discussion of this storytelling method that forms the basis for the documentary, “Finding Joe”.

Several years ago, I was referred to the Facebook page for this documentary by someone and intended to watch the film one day. Time went by and I forgot all about it, but the topic of The Hero’s Journey kept coming up. It would surface in discussions with other creative people and story tellers I had the pleasure to meet, and it formed the basis for many more movies to show up in cinemas over the years.

And as I continued to expand this movie review blog of mine, I brainstormed to write a series of reviews for films that follow The Hero’s Journey arc. Instead of leaping into that, I’ll kick things off with a review of this fine little documentary you’ve probably never heard of. How did I eventually come to watch it?

It was from a post through the Facebook page the other day, which is moderated by the director of the film, Patrick Takaya Solomon. He shared a post containing some sad news, which confirmed the reason why the Facebook page had been so quiet the past several years. His wife had been diagnosed with cancer, and after four hard years of fighting, she lost her battle. Solomon decided to honour her spirit and celebrate the theme of the Hero’s Journey, by making his documentary free to view for a short time. If you are reading this review upon it’s day of posting (24.1.20), head over to the Facebook page for Finding Joe and it may still be linked to the free rental period of the documentary on the website Vimeo (you’ll need to register an account with the site first).

I just finished watching it, and I had to write this review immediately after as I was so moved, inspired and reaffirmed by what I just watched.

Following the format of a typical documentary focusing on any kind of social commentary, the feature includes the contributions of many well-known individuals across many fields and industries. There are interviews with people the likes  of Deepak Chopra, Mick Fleetwood, Akiva Goldsman Tony Hawk, and many others. They all share their story and how they came to understand the arc of the Hero’s Journey. Through their insights and commentary, we the viewer are guided through a simple and elegant presentation of the arc.

It is a circle, with three main stages of progression along the way; Separation, Initiation and Return. As it’s explained so simply and intelligently, with relevant examples from it’s contributing speakers through their areas of expertise, you will come to understand what the Hero’s Journey is all about very quickly.

Interspliced with the many engaging and interesting interviews, are scenes of mostly child actors, portraying the character undergoing the Hero’s Journey. Some of these metaphorical scenes and re-enactments have a somewhat amateur look and feel about them, indicating the director was an emerging talent or restricted to a small budget. And even as some of those brief scenes are unusual or even confronting, you can overlook them as they serve to paint a picture of the main topic, and it all goes towards helping the viewer connect with the idea of the Hero’s Journey.

Throughout the documentary there are also several quotes from a man called Joseph Campbell. Not particularly a name extremely well known in the pages of history, but he surely left his mark on the world with his discovery of the Hero’s Journey. Campbell was the first to pen a piece of work explaining the story telling arc, first published in 1949. The book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, might have come across as daring, confronting and against the grain of traditional thinking upon its release, but when you look at some of the mainstream movies mentioned before (which were all made after the book was first written), you can see how the makers behind those films owe a lot to Campbell in penning their scripts, directing their movies and leaving a permanent mark on the culture of cinema.

The beauty of The Hero’s Journey, contained so eloquently within the film “Finding Joe”, is how everyone – each and every single one of us – can relate to the arc. You might not have considered yourself similar to characters such as Luke Skywalker and his transformation into a Jedi Knight, or computer hacker Thomas Anderson’s awakening into Neo “The One” from The Matrix. But they are us, and we are them.

The film invites you to step away from fear, conventional thinking and any pressures or expectations placed upon you by society, community, family and work. In doing so, you are leaving the road commonly travelled, for the one far less travelled. But it’s on this lonely road where you will embark on your own Hero’s Journey.

And even amidst all the inevitable challenges you will face in venturing in such a courageous new direction, the journey in itself is worth it. And the message behind the film, “Follow Your Bliss” was, in my eyes, an empowering and exciting concept to go with. I feel I have commenced that journey already but know there is more I could be doing.

I urge you to find a spare 80 minutes and watch “Finding Joe”. It will challenge you, enlighten you and in the end, inspire you to Find Yourself, because Joe is all of us; me, you, him and her. And we all owe it to ourselves and each other to take our own Hero’s Journey.