JCVD and Life Lessons

Believe it or not, we feel that JCVD does allow for some personal reflection, at times even helping us to take personal inventory of ourselves. The hero action movie genre in general offers many cliches and archetypes, but rarely offers applicable lessons in life. Or, at least, it would seem that way.

Currently, I am working on two important concepts that don't seem to have much to do with one another: detachment and acceptance. The problem I have with detachment is not letting others' attitudes or harsh words throw me off base. Acceptance is a difficult concept; it involves letting go of things that are out of my control.

Amazingly enough, these lessons can be seen in JCVD (the movie). Of course, it's easier to ponder on JCVD's (the actor) most existential and artistic performance, and I admit that this feat may not have been possible if considering a movie such as "Universal Soldier: The Return," but it still amazes me that JCVD is such an example in this movie. Here is another example of how he embodies the true hero in this movie, while at the same time the movie emphasizes his lack of action movie heroics.

JCVD must learn detachment. He must learn to love his daughter even though she doesn't want him near. He needs to learn how to let go of the Hollywood that almost took him down. He also must detach from others' judgments of him when they assume he is the perpetrator of the bank robbery. Instead of wallowing in this, JCVD owns it in a way that eventually helps to save the other hostages.

Just as I am learning, one must detach, but must do so in a loving, compassionate way. He does not hate his daughter or retaliate against the police. He simply does what has to be done without letting judgment affect his important role in the movie, which could be likened to his role in life. He hurts. He suffers. He is sad about what the world has done to him. But he doesn't let it defeat him. In fact, he proves something to himself: he is, in some way, the hero everyone thinks he is. Until this challenge, he hadn't seen himself in that way, couldn't understand why others could idolize him. However, he also knows that whatever others think of him is not attached to the true person inside.

Ultimately, detachment is connected to acceptance. When JCVD hears the unfair verdit incarcerating him for embezzlement, he does not comment. We never see him fight the charges, the media, even the cab driver's perception. He goes to jail, and when in jail, makes the best of his situation, teaching karate classes. And in the end, all of this detachment and acceptance does bring his daughter back, though we are left wondering what role she will play in his life.

More importantly, through detachment and acceptance, JCVD has a greater knowledge of himself, which perhaps includes more compassion for those he had thought did not understand him, as well as a renewed sense of a life's purpose. Though things may not have gone the way that he might have planned when he was in his early thirties and shooting "Universal Soldier," he is important as a man, as a human being.