“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt

This quote by Teddy Roosevelt happens to one of my favorites.  It was part of a speech called ‘Citizenship in a Republic’ he gave at Sorbonne, France in April of 1910 (The Man in the Arena), which essentially was about taking on the responsibilities of being a part of a successful democratic republic.  I must say that it seems very noble for someone to actually be in “the arena,” and respond to a calling that rarely speaks out today.  But I think it has a lot of meaning in today’s world.  Meaning, in the real world, it’s where you can experience the most, where you can learn the most, where you grow the most, and yes, where you can do the most good.  Yes, at times that means you can get the hell pounded out of you, but I think it’s usually worth it.  I also feel it gets harder to find that arena, to get into it and to stay in for very long.  Yes, you could even say in some instances making a worthwhile film feels like being in that arena.  If it goes beyond what the film is, if it aspires to be something more than just a film, if you start to forget the whole progression started as a film.  And guess what, something we are humbly attempting to do as we take ours out into the arena.

I say it’s sometimes harder to get into that arena because we’ve become such a self-obsessed, complacent, spectator-driven world.  We watch and consume so much that we are not a part of.  Sometimes we actually get close to that arena and almost participate by cheering screams or some such interaction, such as sporting events or music concerts.  And actually, many of these so-called arenas may not even be the ‘worthy’ ones old Teddy was referring to, but just ones erected for our temporary mutual pleasure.  Certainly not ones where we actually can do much good.  But really, to be honest, most of where we usually spend our time consuming is in front of some type of screen.  Really, is that a true pathway to any arena?

As far as staying in that arena very long or very consistently, that seems even more problematic.  It’s where the title above actually leads us in wrapping this idea up.  Festina lente is Latin for ‘hurry slowly’ or to ‘make haste slowly’.  It’s usually invoked to communicate that there needs to be some type of balance in our actions, most notably between urgency and diligence.  So, we shouldn’t rush too quickly to complete tasks, or we’ll make too many mistakes, and thus, our long-term results suffer the consequences.  Let me put another spin on it.  I take it to mean ‘hurry up and wait’.  That phrase I’ve heard so many times in the development, production and now, distribution of our film.  Yes, I know, I know, patience is a virtue, one I’ve learned to live with.  And actually, I can be very patient.  But my gosh, when it takes longer than five years to create, produce and distribute a film, the patience wears thin, and that arena seems so far off.  In our attention deficit world, it does seem so easy to lose sight of the final goal, of that final arena, that such a long labyrinth of a journey as we’ve traveled on can melt all meaningful focus.  Plus, it can probably make our audience even forget we are here at all.  So it does my heart some good to remind myself of what we are doing by bringing up ol’ Teddy’s quote.  And to also remind myself that festina lente seems to have been the path we were always on for our arrival towards this final arena.

JAD