The Trail That We Blaze

In the film "EL DORADO" released by Dreamworks in 2000, there is a brilliant line spoken by the character of Miguel (voiced by Kenneth Branagh).

Tulio and Miguel, two runaway con-artists from Spain wash up on the shores of South America with nothing but a boat, a horse and a map they won in a game of dice. Sounds like the opening line to a joke, now that I think about it. Miguel, ever the adventurer, has his heart set upon finding the mythical city of gold - El Dorado.... Hence the movie's title...

When Tulio asks exactly how they are going to get to the city of gold:

"We'll follow that trail!" answers Miguel.

"What trail?" says Tulio.

With gusto and a machete he stole from a corpse, Miguel proceeds to clear a path through the jungle.

"The trail that we blaze!" he says.

He hits a rock...

Ultimately, this sets it up for an epic montage with music by Elton John. As an aside note, I'd just like to mention that the scene in which Miguel is riding through the jungle on the horse was ground breaking for its time. These days, however, with 3D movies becoming as common as socks in the laundry, we tend to forget the pioneers and the adventurers of film who cleared a path ahead of us, making an abundance of resources available to us today. That's really what you've got admire about a character like Miguel in my opinion; he epitomises those kinds of people, literally, the Trail Blazers.

And whether your in film, or television like I am, or any other kind of career, profession or hobby; those are the kinds of people that reach their 'El Dorado' as it were. The world needs people who can tackle it head on. Those kinds of people with a blind enthusiasm to reach their destination. I'm reminded of the saying, cliche as it may be:

"It's a jungle out there!"

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Any one of us can be a Miguel. We can take the proverbial machete (or better yet, the Machete of Destiny! Sorry, I like giving things cool titles) and hack our way to the future. Note, however, that Miguel didn't do it alone... in fact he probably never would have reached his destination were it not for his rational, slightly more cautious counterpart Tulio.

You see, there's two sides to every coin. Yes, we need the adventurer who often acts before weighing up all the variables, but it also pays to be a Tulio. Tulio is driven, and wants the prize just as badly as Miguel, if not more so, since Miguel lives for the thrill of the journey rather than the destination. But it takes Tulio a lot of pre-thought and sometimes hitting his head up against the wall to get things done:

Writer's block in a nutshell ladies and gentlemen! Haha!

Now, you are not only either a Tulio or a Miguel; we can each have a little bit of both in us. I know I do. There are times when I am, like Miguel, ready to jump in "Guns-a-Blazing" and solve the problem or write the paragraph; and there are times when I'm more like Tulio, when all I can do is slam my head against a post and pray to God that an idea for a story or project will hit me. But in the end, both arrive at "El Dorado", because they balance each other out. Both are Trail Blazers.

If I can take a moment to encourage you, in whatever you're pursuing. This blog is intended as a film-based site, and my goal is to instil in my readers a love for the classic films and stories that have inspired me over the years. I want to share that inspiration with you. As Dustin Hoffman said in a recent interview:

"I think film is the worst it has ever been, and television is the best it has ever been."

So, perhaps it would do us all a world of good to look back at the old films and see what they were getting right, that may be missing from today's industry. As storytellers, filmmakers, and writers moving into the future, we can all learn something from the Old Masters. But I believe that these principles, that characterised filmmaking in previous decades can be applied to any kind of endeavour or dream. I hope that whatever you're doing, whatever you hope to achieve, you'll take this journey with me. I don't have a map. I don't even have a horse or a boat. But I do have the burning desire to reach my El Dorado. I do in a sense have 'The Machete of Destiny'. Do you?

Your life is your story, and your story is a journey. So be the Adventurer, be the Fore-thinker, blaze your trail. "El Dorado" may be just around the corner.