Cool Runnings:

There have been a variety of movies ranging from comedy,thriller, action and drama. One characteristics of the movies which i appreciate much is the moral lesson which the movie depicts. Thanks to some wonderful directors,we have ample movies which not only makes you sit back,relax,laugh but also makes you THINK.(Since we are increasingly getting acclimatized to a robotic pace of life,hence THINKING is something which we are doing less often. Maybe,i will post another post on the concept of THINKING, for now lets continue with this one. One such movie which i recently saw is 'Cool Runnings'.Going by my way of extracting life-lessons from movie, the following post isn't a movie review but review of what the movie had to offer other than entertainment.



Cool Running is a comedy movie in which the main characters of the movie are from Jamaica who are well talented athletics and they hope to represent Jamaica in the upcoming Winter Olympics. The 3 of them are confident of qualifying in the selection race and make it to the Jamaican Athletic Team. On the day of race, when the race starts the 3 of them lead the race when just few meters before the finishing line, one of the 3 racers stumbles down and also trips the 2 nearby athletics. Hence they lose the chance to make it to the Jamaican team. But the lead hero Derice is so fired up to represent Jamaica in the Winter Olympics that he is ready to fins any avenues to make his dream come true.

In the process,he meets Irving , a retired Olympic winner who had been disqualified because of accusations of cheating and currently a Bookie. Irving in his younger days had been a friend of Derice's father who had been a great athletic himself. Irving who after being disqualified had wanted Derice's father to be a part of Bob sledge team because he believed that good runners can make a great Bob sledging team. Derice comes to know of this and goes in search of Irving and persuades him to train him so to represent Jamaica in the Winter Olympics.

Irving after being initially not interested finally agrees to train Derice. He tells 4 people will be required for making a team. Derice meets his friend who has been a champion in the push cart race in his area and persuades him to be one of the team member. Then they together call for a audition for selection of team members. Irving starts the audition by saying that the Bobsled game is not a easy one and that people have died in the games. Hearing this all the people who have come for the audition ran away except the 3 of the athletic who had earlier ran in the qualifying race and the push cart friend.

The funny part is that none knows what is a Bob-Sled game is and how one plays it.A Bobsled is a long racing sled (for 2 or more people) with a steering mechanism and since it is a winter Olympic the racing happens in ice. And Jamaica being a hot place has no amenities for practicing. Even then, Irving trains his new found 4 trainers and they start to practice with full zest. Irving approaches the Jamaican Olympic committee head and ask him to sponsor his team for the Bobsled games. Yet, the head refuses to do so and asks him 'Jamaican participating in Bobsled game is unheard of' and refuses to give financial assistance. Undeterred Derice struggles and finally arranges money so as to reach Calgary,Alberta. The whole place is in complete contrast to Jamaican climate , the temperatures touching -13 degrees.They somehow get acclimatized to the climate.Irving manages to get his team a second hand Bob Sled from his American friends. The first day during the practice proves disastrous for his team as they not only perform badly in the practice but also end up being the butt of others ridicule.

Even then, in the trials next day they record a good timings and end up at the 8th place. Their performance invigorates the entire Jamaica who look forward On the final day,they have a good start and look as if they will end up making a world record. Unfortunately, due to one of the blades falling off, their bob-sled flips on its side coming out of a turn towards the end of their run, leaving them meters
short of the finish line. Still,all the team lifts their sled up and walks across the finish line to rousing applause from onlookers, including their antagonists.

I know that the gist has been a bit long but it was necessary to understand the lessons which the movie had to offer. Firstly, the fire which each one of the 4 team members had so as to represent Jamaica in the Olympics. Leaving the push cart friend, the other three were accomplished runners, even then when they lost the race due to an unfortunate incident, they still didn't lose hope and looked for ways to make their dream come true. In the movie,after persuading Irving to train them they faced a lot of obstacles like no financing to go to Alberta,no proper equipments to practice,no one to support them, a climate in complete contrast to Jamaica and a crowd of antagonist who were making fun of them. Still, the team went ahead with their ambition not bothering about the external factors and focusing on what they really wanted.

This is similar in life that when we want something truly and intensely no matter what the obstacles are,one definitely achieves it...On the day of the race, in spite of being leading the race, due to a glitch their bob-sled over turns and they end up missing the record and are not able to finish the race. in spite of this, they lift the bob-sled and carry it across to the finish line. Comparing this to our life, many times in our life,when the going seems smooth and easy, we come against some unexpected challenge.

Still,what determines our destiny is how we decide to respond to that particular challenge. What choice we make at those particular moments. Do we cry foul over what happened or we sit back and decide what to do next. As always,its our choices that determines our destiny. There are few other minor learning's in the movie for that i leave it to you to check up the movie yourself. Hope the article had some useful learning's.

Take Control.