A Martial Artist s View of The Film Dead Man

The first time I saw �Dead Man� was by sheer accident. I was channel surfing as it came on.

The fact that it stars Johnny Depp in the title role, made it promising, and he�s very good in the film.

The first sequence shows him as a passenger on a train, arguably the best-dressed, or at least the most formal. As the jouey continues, the passengers change from being family types to gritty frontiersmen, who take a second or two to raise the windows and shoot at stampeding buffalo.

Depp is headed toward Machine, the end of the line; a one-company town, where he has been offered a job at the foundry as an accountant. Upon arrival, he leas from a crusty toady and even from the gun wielding boss himself, played menacingly enough by Robert Michum, that he�s too late.

The post was given to someone else, a month before. It seems his invitation, at this point is two months old. (Depp had to bury his parents before leaving Cleveland, that�s all we�re told.)

Retiring to the saloon, where his small change will only buy him a pint of whiskey, Depp meets a local flower girl who sells paper creations; the implication being that nothing as delicate as real flowers can take root in muddy, grimy Machine.

She invites Depp back to her room; they�re discovered by her errant beau, whom she insults, and he plugs her with a bullet as she throws herself in front of Depp, either to save him or because she�s ready to move on.

Depp retus fire, felling her boyfriend, played by a twitchy Gabriel Bye. Then, Depp notices that Bye�s bullet passed through the girl and entered his slowly bleeding chest, where it is now lodged perilously near his heart.

Depp flees on Bye�s pinto. Every lowlife in the west is lured into hunting for Depp based on a $500 reward offered by Mitchum. We�re told Bye was Mitchum�s boy, and Mitchum is pissed about that loss, but perhaps even more incensed about losing his prized pinto

An unconscious Depp is found and nursed by a Native American who has people call him, Nobody.

Nobody treats Depp as if he�s already dead, speaking to him about the spirit world, and taking Depp deep into Native country to find a proper send-off into the world beyond.

The key question that the film raises for the martial artist is: �What kind of life do we live when we consider ourselves already dead?�

And, is it helpful to think of ourselves as dead, though we�re still breathing and eating and functioning in this world?

Arguably, to be a martial artist, you need to accept and to confront the inevitability of death, which can happen on the mat, through a simple mistake, or out on the street, at the hands of a foe.

Theoretically, when you know you�re dying, or think of yourself as already dead, you can let go of holding back.

Depp�s transformation is worth seeing, and this movie adds yet another interesting view of what the Wild West was about.

Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 600 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: gary@customersatisfaction.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Gary_S._Goodman