I use movies as reference points to help me think about the world. The movie “Rashoman,” directed by Akira Kurosawa, for example, has scenes in which a person who is running looks up to see light reflected through the leaves of trees. Even though I watched this movie years ago, I think about it every time I look up and see light scattered through the leaves of the trees I am passing under.
I suspect that most bicycle tourists choose to travel by bicycle for reasons other than simply getting from place to place. Other chapters in this book focus on the purely physical aspects of bicycle touring. This chapter, on the other hand, focuses on the emotional and spiritual aspects of bicycle touring. The movies discussed in this chapter are revealing and helpful even though none of the movies relate directly to bicycle touring!
Perhaps you have decided to travel by bicycle because you are enthralled by the beauty of the natural world. The first movie I discuss, “David Hockney: A Bigger Picture,” allows you to spend time in the company of a visual genius. This extraordinary documentary helps prepare you to fully appreciate the beauty of your natural surroundings as you ride your bicycle across America.
On the other hand, perhaps you are journeying by bicycle in order to heal a broken heart. In that case, the character Travis in “Paris, Texas” will remind you that you are not alone as you wander the lonely highways of America in search of healing.
Terrance Malik’s movie “Days of Heaven” is especially important because it shows us how insignificant our problems are in comparison to the majestic natural world in which they unfold.
Finally, the movie “Wendy and Lucy” introduces you to Wendy and her dog, Lucy. Their story will remind you that you will always be a stranger on the outside looking in as you pedal through the small towns of America.
“David Hockney: A Bigger Picture”
David Hockney is often referred to as the greatest living English painter. After living in California for twenty-five years, he returned to his native Yorkshire. There he began painting the local landscape in vibrant colors and in intricate detail.
In this magical documentary, we accompany him as he drives to his favorite locations in the English countryside. While he is driving, he talks about growing up and feeling overwhelmed by the visual richness of the natural world. We arrive at one of his favorite spots and he explains why he likes it so much. Then he sets up his painting tools, still talking and explaining what he hopes to accomplish. His excitement is palpable. I could hardly wait for him to get started! Finally, he begins working.
Watching David Hockney paint is similar to what I imagine it would be like to look over Van Gogh’s shoulder as he worked on one of his masterpieces. It is surprising how quickly and effortlessly he begins to paint. David Hockney often completes a painting in a single day. You share the artist’s view of the natural surroundings, and then you see this intricate scene being translated onto canvas. I promise you that it is simply thrilling to watch David Hockney paint!
The real payoff, though, is the way this extraordinary documentary changes the way you look at the natural world. I think about this movie almost everyday as I ride the back roads of America. The bicycle route described in this book will take you through an incredible variety of natural landscapes, including southern pine forests, the great plains, alpine meadows, rain forests, and vast deserts. Each of these landscapes has its unique flowers, plants, and trees. It is easy to take all this for granted without fully realizing how beautiful everything is.
After I watched this movie, I really started paying attention to the weeds growing along America’s highways. What an incredible variety of stems, leaves, vines, strange blooms, and infinite shades of green. Not to mention infinite shades of red, yellow, brown, and purple. Some of these plants look as though they belong on another planet with their rubbery leaves and sharp, talon like thorns!
You can’t help but notice the chicory plants, for example, with their blue flowers and near constant presence along the shoulders of rural highways across the Midwest. I fell in love with these beautiful flowers and asked a farmer to tell me what they were called.
Bend over and take a really close look at the chicory. The chicory stems are like a delicate lattice of bamboo. The chicory blooms are a very strange shade of blue. Corn flower blue? No, something a bit more intense. I have actually spent quite a bit of time pondering this shade of blue. Sometimes the chicory plants exceed six feet in height. They are tallest and most plentiful in Illinois and then mysteriously disappear by the time you reach Nebraska.
Another example of how this movie affected me occurred in Port Aransas, Texas. One evening, shortly before sunset, in the dunes along the Texas gulf coast, while lying down in my tent, I noticed an incredible work of art magically appear on the surface of my tent fly. A clump of reeds nearby, with long seed pods, was casting a shadow on my tent. When conditions are right, the details in shadows can be surprisingly intricate. My tent fly looked very much like a beautiful Japanese ink block print!
Thanks to David Hockney and this wonderful documentary, I am much more aware of all the natural beauty that surrounds me on my journey around America.
“Paris, Texas”
directed by Wim Wenders
After riding through Joshua Tree National Park, you will arrive in Twentynine Palms, California. You need to make sure you are carrying plenty of food and water before departing Twentynine Palms and crossing the desert towards Parker, Arizona. As you leave Twentynine Palms, a sign announces, “Next services 100 miles.”
The first time I took this route, I read this sign and then turned back to Twentynine Palms to get more water. Even in November, the highs were close to ninety degrees. After getting water, I pedaled for about an hour, and then stopped to eat my lunch next to the highway.
While I was eating lunch, a young man approached me trudging along the shoulder of the road. He was shirtless in the blazing sun and all he was carrying was a plastic grocery bag containing what appeared to be an empty water bottle. I invited him over, offered him a granola bar and an apple, and asked where he was headed. His reply was surprising, “I’m walking to New York.”
I mentioned the sign that said the next services were 100 miles, and pointed out that distance might well take three or four days to walk. He shrugged as if that bit of information was the least of his worries. My best guess was that he had just broken up with his girlfriend and had decided to just start walking. My own journey had begun under similar circumstances, so I can usually tell when a fellow traveler is suffering from some sort of mental anguish.
The highways of America really are “lost” highways for a certain number of brokenhearted but also somehow indomitable characters. This young man was a particularly severe case, however. What else could I do but fill his water bottle and give him twenty dollars? I would have given him a hug too, if I thought it would have helped!
This whole incident reminded me of Wim Wenders’ movie, “Paris, Texas.” In all of cinema are there any sadder eyes than those of the actor Harry Dean Stanton? He plays the character Travis in this movie. The movie opens with Travis trudging along, utterly dejected, across a vast desert landscape very similar to what I have just described. The soundtrack is devastating. Ry Cooder is bending and holding long, plaintive notes on his guitar as the camera pans back and forth from the lines in Harry Dean Stanton’s face to the harsh and unforgiving landscape surrounding him.
The screenplay was written by Sam Shepherd. It reflects themes that repeat all through Wenders’ career. Travis in “Paris, Texas” is like the guardian angel in Wenders’ masterpiece, “Wings of Desire,” he is able to observe human folly and suffering but he is unable to alter the course of the lives he witnesses.
I’m not going into all the reasons Travis is so distraught except to say that it involves a woman, Jane, played by Nastassja Kinski. The great thing is Nastassja Kinski is no longer the gorgeous young woman she was when I first saw her in Roman Polanski’s movie, “Tess.” No, she is starting to have lines on her face as well. This somehow deepens the emotions that are communicated by this movie. By telling the story of Travis and Jane, “Paris, Texas” reminds us of all the lost souls who wander the lonely highways of America.
“Days of Heaven”
directed by Terrence Malick
“Days of Heaven” sets the corrupt, flawed world of human beings within a natural world which is gloriously beautiful and teeming with life. The human characters play their roles mostly outdoors in the vast wheat fields of the great plains. We feel as if we are watching the human drama unfold from a great distance.
“Days of Heaven” is one of the most beautiful films ever made. Much of the movie was filmed in the magic light near dawn and dusk which creates a golden world filled with emotion. In the theater of ancient Greece, comedies began at sunrise and tragedies began at sunset. Huge bronze doors opened to the center of the stage and reflected the dramatic light.
The forces of nature dominate the first hour of the movie. The farm workers camp under the stars and work in the fields. We listen to the hum of insects as rabbits jump out of the grass and then disappear. The vast sky hovers over everything.
Towards the end of the movie, the story assumes the character of a Greek tragedy. Human folly has upset the balance of nature. The hum of insects is replaced with storms, fires, and murder. Yet one suspects that the grass and insects will soon return and erase everything that has happened. It takes weeks to pedal across the great plains. Every night the hum of insects and the rustle of grass in the wind remind me of Terrence Malick’s masterpiece, “Days of Heaven.”
I highly recommend a YouTube video that examines the films of Terrence Malick in the context of Martin Heidegger’s philosophical masterwork, “Being and Time.” The twenty-eight minute video is entitled “Transcending Heidegger: The Cinema of Terrence Malick. https://youtu.be/Oohg3LZd898” This informative video completely transformed my understanding of Terrence Malick’s films.
“Wendy and Lucy”
directed by Kelly Reichardt
This quiet, unassuming movie tells us almost nothing about Wendy, the young woman played by Michelle Williams. Where is she from? Why did she start on her journey? What are her hopes and dreams? The way we begin to understand Wendy is exactly the same way this process usually unfolds in real life. Stuff happens and we watch how Wendy deals with things. Sometimes she makes mistakes. Often they are the kind of mistakes that a good person would be likely to make. Slowly but surely, I started to really worry about what was going to happen to Wendy and her dog, Lucy. Michelle Williams is my favorite actress and she is simply a wonder in this movie.
Wendy is homeless, sleeping in her car which won’t start, and out of money. Her golden retriever, Lucy, is her only companion. One morning, things start to go wrong. Wendy wakes up and realizes she is out of dog food. From this simple problem things quickly spin out of control.
This movie presents a world you are probably familiar with. The entire town is basically just stores where cash is the only currency. The streets are hard. The sky is overcast. Things just keep getting worse. Rarely do they get better.
As you glide through the countless small towns of America on your bicycle, you will always be a stranger on the outside looking in. The movie “Wendy and Lucy” will remind you exactly how this feels. In the words of Bob Dylan you are a “complete unknown.”
You used to laugh about,
Everyone that was hanging out,
Now you don’t talk so loud,
Now you don’t seem so proud,
About having to scrounge your next meal.
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home, Like a complete unknown, Like a rolling stone.
Bob Dylan
“Like A Rolling Stone”
I am the author of the book “Fifty Movies That Will Change Your Life.” You can read this book for free at: www.extraordinarymovies.org.