“He who wants, looks for a way. He who doesn’t, looks for an excuse.” The short film ‘Mustang’ directed by Katerina Kuncicka is poetry in motion showcasing a young boy who is determined to do whatever he can to play hockey, even with his limitations.
The young boy is shown waking up to a background noises of hockey fans and a game, with scenes showing the Philadelphia Flyers jerseys and medals that the boy appears to have won. He wakes up at 6am in the morning, and the scene shows that as he tries to wake up, he is paraplegic.
When he wakes up, it was an effective hook in the first 30 seconds of the short film to get the audience to wonder what happened and feel for this young boy. It creates a polarizing feeling, such as sorrow, curiosity, and shock, with questions as to what happened to him before he became paraplegic. What is interesting about this is that our minds are often filled with a lot of unanswered questions and concerns when something different is right in front of our eyes. The scene sets it up nicely for the intention to make us feel like that.
Here’s where it gets very interesting. Regardless of the young boy’s physical limitations, the story is all about the mental game. His mental game is strong. And it was inspiring to watch. Going back to the quote mentioned at the beginning of this article, the young boy loves hockey and is determined to do whatever it takes to still play hockey, or a version of it, called luge hockey.
Waking up at 6am was intentional. The young boy’s intention was to get up early and train his upper body. He does not require anyone’s assistance to get him out of bed, the young boy does it all by himself. He even gets to the workout equipment by himself. And he trains in luge hockey by himself. To see all of his actions happen in a less than 3-minute short speaks volumes of his willpower and determination to do what he loves no matter what roadblocks get in the way of his life.
It is truly an inspiring video to watch and a very powerful positive message for the audience. Everyone has a story to tell, and everyone has their own struggles to deal with. There’s no need to ever compare one’s struggles with another person’s successes, because what this film is trying to convey is that it all starts with you, and your mind.
Many of us are conditioned using the words “but”, “should not”, and “must not”, which likely sets us up for an excuse or a cop out reason not to do the things we wanted to do. When one is set to make a decision to do it or not, it typically takes around 20 seconds for that mind to quickly make that decision, with a potential bias towards taking the easier path of not doing it at all. And when one is conditioned to just have an excuse or to say they will do it another day, who knows how many years will pass and realize that they have lost a lot of time in their lives to do the things they love.
As a reviewer of this film, this resonates with me. From my perspective, I was raised on the idea that there is only one path to take. Go to school, graduate, get a full-time job, get married, buy a house. The path is pretty straightforward, but let’s look at the job. I’ve spoken with people who are 10 years into their job, and asking them how is work. Most of them respond consistently negative things about their job in the last 10 years. Being miserable for the last 10 years working in a place where one-third of their lives are taken away by something they do not love may condition them to view the world in a negative light.
I think that at some point in our lives, we may wake up and realize that a change may be in order. To find something to do that you love. This young boy found it at an early age. Even with his limitations, it does not stop him from working hard to realizing his dreams as a hockey player. He has no excuses. And that is inspiring to watch.
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.