Reflection on "Running Brave" and Identity

The identity of someone is one of the most important aspects in our life. Identity is the fact of being whom or what a person or even a thing is. Referring to an essay from Peter Roberts called “Identity”, a person identity can be found on heritage, language, and nationality, by its home town or even by its color. Not knowing your identity is like not knowing yourself. If you lose your identity then you are forgetting who you are and what you like. By having this situation, of losing your identity, then you must do whatever it takes to find yourself again even if you had to quit everything you’re doing because the identity I yourself. The real one inside, the one that we as people are known for. In the movie “Running Brave” we can detect that Billy Mills had an identity crisis were for some point he lose himself.

              In the movie Billy Mills loves to run, it’s his passion and who he is. By running he felted free and with no worries he would run and forge everything else except for running. In the film after he won some matches his coach said to him to always since the start to be first. The coach was trying to change his style of running at the same time his identity. After Billy realize that he wasn’t himself anymore he did everything to find himself again. He disappeared from the university and the team to come back home. He came back to find himself to be him. Also to find the love on running again. It was a hard journey because in the time he was in his hometown his brother shoot himself and died but at the end he founded himself also the love to run. Then he accomplished his long time goal to run at the Olympics but not only to run but to break a record.

Reflection on Billy Mills and "Running Brave"

 

          The movie “Running Brave” is about the journey of cross country runner Billy Mills. The movie illustrates the hard times he had during his races, his teammates and in life. The movie starts at a cross country competition where Billy Mills wins it with ease. Then a scout from Kansas University got interested with his performance but at first he stumbles at making a decision to recruit him but Billy talks with him and convince him. He lived with his brothers and uncle because his father died when he was young. Billy suffered some name calling from teammates, which he didn’t like, and also a racist confrontation with a security guard from the campus. His coach push him to get and accomplish his top goal. He won the 1964 ten thousand meters race from the Olympic Games at Tokyo with a world breaking time of twenty eight minutes and twenty seconds.

            At his journey through getting his dream he experienced some external problems and also internal. The external problems consisted on some events and comments from people that were important at his career. For example, when the scout, coach, said that he didn’t wanted him at his team for the bad experienced he had with Indian runners. He said that they always quit on him and were lazy. After those comments Billy said that he wasn’t a quitter and the coach recruited him. Another example is when later on he didn’t make the cut for the first time he tried out for the Olympic Games team. But then he found himself and make the cut for the next Olympics Games team and won the race. The internal problems consisted more on the verbal names they did for example when one of his teammates called him chief after a practice then after a race, his first race, tell him if he won the race for the team or for the tribe after that comment Billy lost it and struck him. In other words he had similar problems but all of them he surpass them and dominate them. That didn’t stop him at achieving his goal his dream.