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 THE
JOURNEY (Aspyr Media)
Documentary. 96 minutes. Not Rated. With his not so trustworthy 1971 VW
Bus as his main transportation, Eric Saperston drives across the country
and interviews older “successful” people about happiness, life,
success, etc in the hopes of offering help and guidance to today’s
younger generation. Accompanying Eric is his dog and a few friends to help
document the trek, er, journey. Along the way and amidst all the
interviews, Eric and his friends (not including the dog) discover more
about themselves then they ever imagined, which helps induce life altering
attitude changes and thinking.
After
viewing the first 30-40 minutes of The Journey, I was completely sold on
the fact that this was perhaps the most unfocused documentary ever made.
What started out as a journey to gather information, turned into a reality
show dealing with interested investors and movie companies who wanted to
buy the rights to the documentary. However, The Journey quietly slipped
back into form as the cast/crew began to realize certain things about
themselves they didn’t like and needed to change if they indeed wanted
to be truly happy. Yes, there are a few nuggets of wisdom and happiness
advice, but the biggest and best nugget is the aforementioned self
realization of the cast and crew. All the advice in the world isn’t
going to matter if you’re unable to self reflect and change the
negatives into positives. The interviews with the older generation, which
includes celebrities, CEOs, and regular folk, does offer some insight from
life’s experienced ones. However, the interviews with the 20 somethings
truly exhibits just how whiney, demanding, and confused the entire lot of
them are. The Journey definitely has a “Hippy” feel to it with the VW
Bus thing and folk music soundtrack. Hey, remember how ugly The Indigo
girls were 15 years ago? Well, add 15 years of age to that ugly and the
combination packs one powerful punch. You know, I saw the Indigo Girls
live in the late 80s with a female friend and thought I had picked up a
girl at the bar, but she ended up wanting my female friend rather than me
and I was left out in the cold, once again. Oh well. Wait, I just self
reflected and realized that I am unfocused and mean. Extras include:
commentary with Sapeston, a Q&A session with Saperston, lost footage,
etc. The extras do add a lot to the documentary. Hey, pretty cool menu
animation as well! The Journey is a good thing to watch and may give you a
kick in the pants to stop the never ending complaining and get up off your
butt and change what needs to be changed about yourself for happiness
sake. Even better, watch this DVD with people whose ages span the decades;
the chit chat amongst you all may prove helpful. – Denis Sheehan
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