Joe Versus the Volcano
Obviously I enjoy Tom Hanks movies (for the most part).
[Warning: this post does tell how the movie ends!]
In "Joe Versus the Volcano," Joe is an unhappy man in a dead end job in a dead end basement.
Joe is always sick with something. His doctor insists he is a "hypochondriac," tho his take on this is that Joe thinks he's in pain becuz trauma is causing him to remember the pains he once had as a firefighter who regularly put his life at risk. (This is what would now rightly be called PTSD, with very real pain.)
Joe insists on round after round of tests. Finally his doctor tells him the tests had uncovered a "brain cloud" which would kill him soon, no hope for a cure, so live to the utmost.
With nothing left to lose, Joe tells off his boss & quits, getting a date with the secretary he'd never hardly talked to all those years on the job.
Soon he is contacted by a filthy rich man who wants the rights to a rare mineral found only on a tiny south Pacific island. The natives believe that every 100 years someone must voluntarily throw themselves into the island's volcano or it will erupt & they will all be destroyed. The only thing they will trade the mineral rights for is a volunteer for the volcano.
So this billionaire rather easily convinces Joe, who figures he's a goner anyway, to volunteer to be the sacrifice. After all he'll get to live high off the hog for the brief rest of his life, die a hero, save an island, and help Mr. Billionaire continue to offer a valuable product to the world.
When the time comes, Joe is brought to the island in the yacht of the billionaire's daughter (Meg Ryan). They fall in love, then she insists the tribal chief marry them, then they will jump in the volcano together.
However, the volcano spits them out into the ocean, and the island with the precious mineral sinks! Then up pops Joe's huge waterproof & buoyant luggage trunks, which they can safely float on.
As they wonder what is next, Joe tells her about the "brain cloud," that he will die soon anyway.
She tells him he has been duped!
His doctor, also the doctor of Mr. Big Bucks, lied
to him about the imaginary "brain cloud," in order to get him to be the volcano sacrifice & get the rare mineral for his products & profits.
So Joe is ok, they were married, and they lived happily ever after!
Yeah, I'm a sucker for happy endings! Enuf bad ones in real life.
This movie, which I just saw again on TV, gets me thinking about how we SA survivors have been traumatized & have very real pain, which others deny or ignore, expecting us to do the same. Worse there are those who lie about it, telling us things are wrong with us that are not, in order to use us for their perverse purposes.
In the movie Joe naively neglected to get a 2nd opinion, which would have cleared up his "brain cloud" quickly. We need the "2nd (& 3rd, 4th, 5th etc) opinions" of others besides our perps, those who abuse us & those who cover their sorry arses.
We need the opinions, support, affirmation & love of our fellow survivors and friends. With their help the truth can make us free and we can "live happily ever after" in some way anyway.
At least that's what I believe & hope for...
Victor
[Warning: this post does tell how the movie ends!]
In "Joe Versus the Volcano," Joe is an unhappy man in a dead end job in a dead end basement.
Joe is always sick with something. His doctor insists he is a "hypochondriac," tho his take on this is that Joe thinks he's in pain becuz trauma is causing him to remember the pains he once had as a firefighter who regularly put his life at risk. (This is what would now rightly be called PTSD, with very real pain.)
Joe insists on round after round of tests. Finally his doctor tells him the tests had uncovered a "brain cloud" which would kill him soon, no hope for a cure, so live to the utmost.
With nothing left to lose, Joe tells off his boss & quits, getting a date with the secretary he'd never hardly talked to all those years on the job.
Soon he is contacted by a filthy rich man who wants the rights to a rare mineral found only on a tiny south Pacific island. The natives believe that every 100 years someone must voluntarily throw themselves into the island's volcano or it will erupt & they will all be destroyed. The only thing they will trade the mineral rights for is a volunteer for the volcano.
So this billionaire rather easily convinces Joe, who figures he's a goner anyway, to volunteer to be the sacrifice. After all he'll get to live high off the hog for the brief rest of his life, die a hero, save an island, and help Mr. Billionaire continue to offer a valuable product to the world.
When the time comes, Joe is brought to the island in the yacht of the billionaire's daughter (Meg Ryan). They fall in love, then she insists the tribal chief marry them, then they will jump in the volcano together.
However, the volcano spits them out into the ocean, and the island with the precious mineral sinks! Then up pops Joe's huge waterproof & buoyant luggage trunks, which they can safely float on.
As they wonder what is next, Joe tells her about the "brain cloud," that he will die soon anyway.
She tells him he has been duped!
His doctor, also the doctor of Mr. Big Bucks, lied
to him about the imaginary "brain cloud," in order to get him to be the volcano sacrifice & get the rare mineral for his products & profits.
So Joe is ok, they were married, and they lived happily ever after!
Yeah, I'm a sucker for happy endings! Enuf bad ones in real life.
This movie, which I just saw again on TV, gets me thinking about how we SA survivors have been traumatized & have very real pain, which others deny or ignore, expecting us to do the same. Worse there are those who lie about it, telling us things are wrong with us that are not, in order to use us for their perverse purposes.
In the movie Joe naively neglected to get a 2nd opinion, which would have cleared up his "brain cloud" quickly. We need the "2nd (& 3rd, 4th, 5th etc) opinions" of others besides our perps, those who abuse us & those who cover their sorry arses.
We need the opinions, support, affirmation & love of our fellow survivors and friends. With their help the truth can make us free and we can "live happily ever after" in some way anyway.
At least that's what I believe & hope for...
Victor