I remember seeing it in a movie theater when it came out, but I wanted to watch it again. Because Netflix's DVD by mail service is set to end in September, it's kind of now or never.
The movie is (unsurprisingly) about a guy named Joe. He works for a rectal probe manufacturer, is frequently sick, and hates his job. When he visits a doctor, he learns that he has only six months to live.
At about the same time, Joe is approached by some kind of agent who offers him a deal: in exchange for a life of luxury furing his final few months, Joe has to jump into a volcano to appease some kind of god, which will allow investors to get some kind of mineral rights from the natives.
There are two memorable scenes that I think are worth writing about. The first is Meg Ryan talking about how rare it is to find someone who's truly awake.
"My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement."The second is of Joe -- having survived a shipwreck -- marveling at the beauty of a moonrise and thanking God for his life. YouTube says the video can't be embedded, but it's here. [Watch on YouTube]
The movie's biggest impact on me was that I didn't want to end up doing a job "that wasn't worth doing." At the beginning of the story, Joe makes a living, but he has no life. I didn't want to end up living like that.
A second impact is that it reinforced my fascination with the Pacific. Having grown up watching family sitcoms, there seemed to always be a special episode where the family goes to Hawaii. Although it wasn't until 1994 that my dream of going to college in Hawaii coalesced, Joe versus the Volcano contributed a small part toward that dream.
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