' ' Cinema Romantico: The Fan Becomes the Obsessee

Friday, September 22, 2006

The Fan Becomes the Obsessee

Upon reading back in July that "Raiders of the Lost Ark" would be showing on the big screen here in Chicago I naturally hollered how I'd "dreamt of seeing it on the big screen!" A friend commented, "Nick, you have a lot of dreams."

You're damn right, I do, and I feel terrible for anyone who doesn't. The word dream is the finest in the english language. The "Raiders of the Lost Ark" dream has become a reality and there are hundreds more to go. But that was one of the lesser dreams. I certainly have bigger dreams. I want to attend a Rose Bowl. I want to go to Lexington and Concord and Boston and walk the entire length of the Midnight Ride. But one of my biggest dreams - perhaps the one that was residing at the top of the lengthy list - was to visit the filming locations for my all-time favorite movie, "Last of the Mohicans".

Well, faithful readers, it is a dream no longer. In less than two weeks it will become a reality. The first week of October the loyal Civic and I will be off to western North Carolina - into the Blue Ridge Mountains - which constituted the area for filming of the Movie Which Made Me Want to Make Movies.

I know what you're thinking. How do I even have any idea where the filming locations were? I wondered that myself upon deciding earlier this year it was high-time to make the journey happen. I quickly went to the internet and within minutes had discovered a web site set up by a gentleman who also explored the locations used for filming of "Last of the Mohicans". And this rather informative web site was also hawking a booklet that could be used as a manual for finding the locations yourself.

Apparently, there are people out there more obsessed with this movie than me. Quite scary.

Needless to say, I purchased said manual and set about planning my pilgrimmage. And that's what it is, got it? A pilgrimmage. I mention to people that I'm doing this and many of them give me peculiar looks followed up with commentary. Oh sure, someone visits the Jordan River solely because it's the place where Jesus was baptized and no one bats an eye. But I decide to visit the spot where "Alice Munro" made the choice to "leap" to her "death" and everyone thinks I've gone right off my rocker.

Well, maybe I have. Or maybe I went off it a long time ago. But that's beside the point. This is one of the biggest of my big dreams and I'm making it come true. I've been meaning to do this for a number of years, of course, but the time just feels right. My soul needs a little stirring. My spirt needs some rejuvenating. I need some time away........from everything. And I can't imagine a better way to do that. It also needs to be done now as it needs to be done solo. Why? Because if I want to sit in the spot where an "elk" was "killed" by "Hawkeye" for three hours and contemplate the meaning of life, by God, that's what I'm gonna' do. And I don't need anyone there to tell me otherwise.

This isn't all I'll be doing on my excursion to the east. I'll be visiting my friend Rory the Movie Idiot (currently stationed in the remote outpost of Chapel Hill, North Carolina), meandering my way up the Blue Ridge Parkway (which should be spectacular in the early stages of autumn) and touring the Smoky Mountains on the drive into the Tar Heel State.

But the primary purpose of this pilgrimmage is clear. I'm going to Mohicanland, baby. The only concern I harbor is that I may potentially frighten tourists (and no, I don't consider myself tourist for this trip - I consider myself a zealot) while walking alongside the Little River in Pigsah Forest spouting dialogue from the film out loud to myself.

MAJOR HEYWARD: "I thought all our colonial scouts were in the militia. The militia is fighting the French in the north."
HAWKEYE: "I ain't your scout. And I sure ain't no damn militia. Clear it up any?"

Yeah, the tourists are just gonna' have to deal with it.

1 comment:

The Fab Miss B said...

Bon Journee my friend. I can't wait to hear what life reveals to you on this trek, Nay, pilgrimage.
Love, B
P.S Are you coming to the rehearsal dinner or what?