Changing Lanes
(2002, 100 minutes, R)

Many people these days aren't merely asleep at the wheel of life--they are hostile or lost at the wheel. Stressed and frustrated with their individual worlds and the world in general, they are dysfunctional drivers who don't know where they are going, or why.

"The world is too much with us," as Wordsworth said long ago. And emphasis on the material, the physical, the money, and maya is driving us crazy.

Changing Lanes is about two men whose lives cross when they are involved in a traffic accident in New York City. Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) is a Wall Street attorney and Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson) is an insurance telemarketer. Each is driving to court and each is preoccupied while getting there. Gavin's mind is on the high-stakes case before him, and Doyle's is on the custody hearing for his two boys.

The accident, caused when both harried drivers decide to hurriedly switch lanes, begins a tense, mesmerizing, thought-provoking scenario in which both men are led to reexamine their characters, motivations, and actions. Questions arise which they feel compelled to address for the first time: Do they like who they are? Do they want feelings of hostility? How much do they care about others? What is their purpose in life?

Directed by Roger Michell and written by Chap Taylor and Michael Tolkin, the film is one of those insightful cinematic wake-up calls for our times. That is, the film delivers the message to wake up to the type of people many of us have become and look at how we might need to change -- for our own good and for the good of our fellow humans and the planet.

At its center, the conflict between Gavin and Doyle takes us to the issue of how we treat our fellow humans - our spiritual brothers and sisters: Do we treat them with love, as Jesus and other avatars have urged us to do? Do we give them kindness, as the Dalai Lama (the Buddha of compassion) advocates?

Well, no, often we don't, when we are stressed, frustrated and fearful. It is Gavin's preoccupation with his own self-serving aims and insensitivity to Doyle that get the two into their escalating battle. When Doyle, a basically good man who is trying to do the right thing in his life despite alcohol abuse and other problems, asks Gavin for a ride, Gavin refuses and rushes off yelling, "Better luck next time."

The script makes it clear that the two men's whole traumatic day could have been different if Gavin's initial response would have been different.

How did their fight begin? Doyle sums it up: "I said give me a lift and you said better luck next time."

Trying to solve a dilemma that his conflict with Doyle has brought into his life, Gavin asks a man, "Is there any other way?"

The man replies, "Sure, call him up and just be nice to him."

So simple a solution, yet so powerful; so easy a solution, yet so time—and energy-saving. And so spiritual--meeting confrontations, conflicts, and misunderstandings, whether at home, in the office, or on the street, with love and kindness.

When we don't respond from love and kindness, situations can get out of hand, with each side trying to outdo and out-smart the other.

The intelligent script of Changing Lanes doesn't succumb simply to a plot based on revenge and one-upmanship. It gives us a hopeful example that people are, at their essence, good and decent, and that people can indeed be transformed by the renewing of their mind and "wake up" to a better, saner, more peaceful way of approaching and living life.

In the course of their struggle begun by their fateful lane-changing, Gavin and Doyle are given chances to rise above the pettiness and frustrations of their lives and to see and really feel what truly matters in life—love, kindness, self-respect, a God-centered awareness that our lives are intertwined and every life deserves respect and compassion.

Both men find meaning in life. Gavin has called the world "a sewer" and "a garbage dump," but he comes to realize his own responsibility to make the world a better place. He also realizes that change is an individual activity and can only come from within. People have "to write their own letters," he says.

Gavin's father-in-law (Sydney Pollack) tells him, "This is all a tightrope. You've got to learn how to balance." Gavin has been trying to balance according to a self-serving corporate philosophy, but through his day with Doyle, comes to find a more satisfying balance in loving and altruistically serving others.

Doyle prays, "God, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change," but learns that putting others first and loving and honoring their needs can bring wonderful changes into the lives of all concerned.

The style and attitude with which we change lanes and navigate life does matter. It is up to each of us to create a world in which people drive and live together harmoniously, lovingly, and peacefully. As a Unity affirmation states, "Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with God's love in my heart." That's the easiest way to change lanes in life.

THE ROOKIE
(2002, 127 minutes, G)

"Impossible dreams" need not be impossible, as this inspirational true story of baseball player Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) proves.

The film opens with the legend that St. Rita, the patron saint of impossible dreams, twice blessed the small town of Big Lake, Texas--once at the oil town's founding and later with the success of Morris, a high school science teacher and baseball coach who always dreamed of pitching in the major leagues.

Morris had given up on his boyhood dream and had settled into life as a husband, father and teacher. As a young man, Morris played in the minor leagues for five years, but arm injuries forced him to leave the field in 1989.

While coaching the losing Big Lake Owls baseball team, Morris gives his players a pep talk. "You quit on me, and worst of all, you quit on yourself," he tells them.

"I'm talking about having dreams, and all of that starts right here," Morris continues, pointing inward.

One of the students is brave enough to ask Morris, who has demonstrated to them that he can still throw, "What about you? You're the one who should be wanting something more."

Suddenly, the pep talk is turned on Morris and he must confront the reasons for quitting on his own "impossible" dream.

Morris accepts the players' bargain that if they win district and go to the state championship, he will try out again for the minor leagues, with the hope of going on to the majors.

Just as Morris cares about his players, so the team and the townspeople care about him. The relationships show how important it is for each of us to have others believe in our abilities and dreams. Having others believe in him gives Morris the incentive to believe in himself, so that when the day arrives when he registers to try out for the minors, he says, "I'm here for me" and truly believes in himself.

At a try out for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Morris discovers, much to his surprise, that he is throwing at 98 mph--much better than in his earlier years.

With success, however, come some lingering doubts. In overcoming those doubts, another's help is needed. Morris goes to his father, with whom he has a stilted relationship, for advice. His father tells Jim that his grandfather used to say that it is okay to think about what you want to do, until it is time to start doing what you are meant to do.

Morris doesn't at first recognize the advice as being valuable. The idea is extremely important in making dreams come true. Too often people talk about their dreams and consider and analyze them for so long, that they miss the opportunities to accomplish them. They fail to realize that action eventually must accompany the desire in order to make dreams come true; procrastination doesn't do it.

To accomplish our dreams, it also is necessary to recognize what it is for which we have a true passion. At another time of doubting his decision to be a baseball player at his age (mid-30s), Jim's wife, Lorri (Rachel Griffiths), asks him, "Do you still love it? Just think about that, okay?"

When he looks within, as he told his high school team to do, Morris knows that his passion and his dream are one and the same, and he applies himself wholeheartedly to accomplish his dream.

The Rookie, written by Mike Rich and directed by John Lee Hancock, is an honest and emotionally satisfying film that contains worthwhile, realistic lessons to inspire dreamers of all ages.

Raymond Teague is the author of Reel Spirit: A Guide to Movies That Inspire, Explore and Empower, from Unity House. He is an award-winning journalist, an editor of spiritual publications, a popular New Thought speaker, and a lifelong movie buff. His book is available at bookstores; on-line at amazon.com, bn.com, borders.com, and by phone at
1 (800) 669-0282.