On Perseverance and Training...Lessons from Thelma

Training is important to give you consistent technique and stamina.  In most cases in it the difference between victory and defeat.  A lot of us are awed when a talented person comes along.  In the long run however, we find that those who are on top are those who had the consistency and tenacity to go through the daily struggles of their career.

I was fortunate to have my friend, Rino Que, give me a DVD copy of the award winning film Thelma. Rino and his wife Sam were the Executive Producers of this remarkable feature film Produced by Paul Soriano (also the Director)  and Maja Salvador.  The film centers around a girl named Thelma from province of Ilocos in the Northern part of the Philippines.  Thelma is a free spirit who seems untamable.  She goes about doing as she pleases until one day her dear sister gets hit by a car.  Faced with a sibling who may not be able to walk again, she joins a marathon and wins the prize money with which she purchases a wheelchair.   In the process, she catches the eye of a good coach who is determined to get her into a formal athletic programme. She also learns a very important family secret: her mother used to be a champion runner but gave up her career when she got pregnant with Thelma. The coach aslo happened to be her mother's old coach. With the coaching she gets from her mom and her coach, she becomes a champion all the way up to the nationals.  At this point, she is taken under the wing of top caliber coach who trains her for qualifying into the Philippine Track team.  A second challenge comes in her life, when she learns that her mom is taken to the hospital because of Cancer.  She is now torn between going home to be with her family or continuing her goal to finish college and to represent the Philippines in International competitions. Resolution comes when her family pushes her to pursue her goal and she does so as a dutiful daughter.

For me the memorable scenes where the accident which became a turning point in her life and the point of decision she had at the latter part of the movie.  If found the accident scene very moving with sequences cutting back and forth between Thelma and her sister Hannah with the car at the background.  It gave a sense of foreboding, telling you that the accident was going to happen even before it happened.    The decision scene at the end was also well presented.  The sequence was made of shots on Thelma as the camera was moving around giving a sense of dizziness and confusion.

The story does have a good moral in that it states that sacrifices have to be made to fulfill your dreams. This is made clear as the main character is surrounded by characters whose dreams are not fulfilled.  Her mother, her sister and her boyfriend.  What makes Thelma special was that her dreams were not out of selfish ambition but out of a sense of love and duty to her family.