Soul
Directed by Peter Doctor, Released in 2021.
The Character
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\Th Joe Gardner is a middle-aged man whose entire sense of self is based around his passion for Jazz and playing the piano. He grew up wanting to become a famous musician his whole life, and currently, he feels uninspired while working as a middle school band teacher.
The Conflict
One day, Joe gets an opportunity to step in for a piano player in a well-known music group, and he is elated. His big break has finally come! Unfortunately, Joe is so transfixed by this news that he is unaware of his surroundings, and ends up falling through a pothole in NYC while he is talking to a friend of his over the phone. His body goes to the hospital in critical condition, while Joe’s soul goes to heaven. With the help of another soul, he attempts to get back to earth and into his body before he misses his concert, and the dream of being a musician passes him by. After a chaotic day of prepping for his concert and trying to repossess his body, Joe eventually succeeds, playing a great concert and earning a permanent spot in the Jazz Quartet. Afterward, he is disappointed by the lack of joy he feels and the emptiness that has taken over.
“The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, person and family history, belief systems, and often nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.”
- Eckhart Tolle
Joe Gardner is stuck believing who he is comes from what he does. His entire life he felt his life had been a failure because he had never made it as a musician. When he finally succeeds as a musician he remains unfulfilled because he still doesn't recognize his real self. This is the dysfunction of the ego.
Key moment
After returning home from the concert, Joe is sitting on his piano bench when he empties his pockets and sees all the various items he collected during the day’s journey with the other soul. Joe begins to play his piano as streams of memories and feelings from the day and his entire life flood his mind. Joe starts to cry, and he finally begins to take a glimpse into who he really is, and what truly matters in life. This moment helps Joe step out of his egoic patterns, and into the feeling of being.
When he pushes the sheet music out of the way and sets the everyday items on the piano, it symbolizes Joe’s disidentification with music and ego and opens up space for pure awareness and being to take over.
Resolution & Analysis
Joe’s near-death and out-of-body experience gave him a taste of a higher power and helped put life in perspective. He realized that he is more than a piano teacher or a musician and that these egoic roles and labels of success his mind was putting on life were severely limiting his own existence. While Joe still enjoys jazz, his true sense of self is no longer hidden behind the illusion that a position of success or the ability to achieve a dream defines who he is. As Joe disidentifies from the mind and his ego weakens, he is able to live a more fulfilling life and he no longer takes the little things of life for granted. The final scene of the movie is him walking out his front door and taking in the sounds, sights, and sensations that his consciousness is now fully aware of, and you can tell Joe feels a newer sense of connectedness with the world around him.