Mind, Body & Spirit!

The Story

Several years ago, I heard about the guy who cut off his arm to save his life. At the time, I thought, “man, that’s insane,” but I was really thinking, “I could never do that!” So now they have made a movie about the climb “127 Hours” that caused Aron Ralston to self-amputate his right arm to free himself from a rock in 2003 and I had to see it.

Expectations - Shattered

First I thought, what could they possibly show in this movie, a guy slowly slicing off his arm, rocks, rocks, rocks? But I was surprisingly mistaken. A couple of things: James Franco plays Aron, best known for a villain in “Spiderman”, a pothead in “Pineapple Express”, and other variety of movies, and oh yes, he really could play James Dean in a heartbeat; the director of the movie is Danny Boyle, who directed “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Trainspotting” two really great movies that have some of the grosses scenes in them, swimming through crap and a diving into a toilet while high; and the movie is not that long. The movie played out well, James Franco was great, he should get at least one nomination for his acting, I mean it was similar to the Tom Hanks role in “Castaway” it was him and the elements, but Franco spoke more. Also, you find out that he had a camera and a video camera with him, so he was able to document his struggle and say his last goodbyes. The flashbacks and flash forwards were really insightful, he sees what he could have done differently, what was most important and was he thought he could have had in the future. Franco played to the camera well, he was energetic, despite the situation, yet he was emotionally challenged by it as well. I can only imagine that Franco watched Ralston’s videos over and over.

What was it Really About

The man was smart and brave! I often think, can I survive a natural disaster or some serious sh*t accident, I mean Hurricane Ike was 13 days without electricity, but thanks to my husband, we did great. Ralston must have gone through some tremendous amount of god awful pain when that rock trapped him. He stood for five days, he did things I did not think I could have done, yuck with the camel back bag! I also admire his resilience; so many times I admire how my clients survive their ordeals, but theirs is not in comparison to what Ralston went through. He was determined to survive, which he did. I think the situation Ralston went through is what the human spirit can survive, there is no doubt God was with that man during his entire ordeal.

No movie spoilers here, we all know he lived to talk about it

Ralston walked out of that cave, severed arm and all and survived the ordeal, incredible. He is such an example of what can be accomplished with determination and fearlessness. I particularly loved the “Good Morning from the Rock here” scene where he describes what the status is of his situation in the energetic passion he possesses. He even had time to take in the beauty of nature with his sights on the bird!

I certainly learned something -

• never forget your Swiss Army Knife.
• always tell someone where you are going
  
• and no matter what, there is always a way out of the situation, even if it’s ‘Between a rock and a hard place.’

Go see the movie, I highly recommend it!