I was privileged to see a screening of this insightful movie last week. I highly recommend everyone see it. The writer is bold enough to take a look at how the current economy affects men at every level of a corporation. From the CEO making the highest money ever because of layoffs to the man who’s dedicated his entire life to work because he put his soul into it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPohmhNFwi4
Millions of men have been laid off in The Great Recession but they honestly will never work again in their desired field. Over 75% of the layoffs were men, though women account for 51% of workers. How does a man deal with his inner picture of manhood, of success, being shattered as an illusion? This movie, I think, does a great job of looking at it without a Hollywood perspective, preaching, or making any statement. Each man will have a different experience in this recession. All will have to drop some part of their ego (unless they got rich because of the layoffs). Dropping ego, our attachment to our old way of doing things, is the hero’s journey.
Two thumbs up! Both of my thumbs. See it, and post your experience back here.
(A personal note, as a life coach. The female character shown in the beginning of the trailer is NOT a0” life coach”, as the ads suggest. She is a “job placement trainer”. Her job is to pump people up and get them out the door at the sweat shop that corporations send their executives. I’ve been to one! The character is meant to be annoying, false, not compassionate. It’s unfortunate that the marketers of the film chose to call her a “life coach”, though only in the ad materials. They did that because coaching is becoming a hot tool for people in transition, rather than struggling on their own, so they can capitalize on a market trend. Unfortunately, as we look at on the blog, ad firms need men to fail, to not find themselves, work with others, so they can continue to sell their products. That’s Hollywood… ad people.)