What if?
I know the word
“movie” originated at the inception of moving pictures, followed shortly
thereafter by “talkies.”
But, what if we
call them movies because of their power to move us?
Because that’s
what this one does. This is my first foray into movie reviews, though I’ve done
a few other reviews of books and concerts in the past (Bleachers, Florence +
The Machine), so I’m branching out.
To Jessie: Thank you. You
know you didn’t have to do this, you could’ve just kept this private, and not
put yourself under this spotlight. It must be a bit scary now, knowing the film
is out there and people are watching some of your most vulnerable moments. But
the telling is so genuine, that anyone watching will only walk away with tremendous
respect and compassion for you, and a new appreciation for the struggles faced
by those with an eating disorder. The film evokes compassion, pure compassion.
It was eye-opening to see that this could happen to someone who is at the top of their game, as the movie follows Jessie through the 2023 – 2024 season. Just coming off her impressive showing at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, she’s the most decorated cross-country skier for the US. You can be highly successful – and still struggling. And maybe the two are intertwined. She has indicated that she will be retiring after this season, and so her last races will be at the World Cup events coming up at Lake Placid March 19-22.
Thank you to
Jessie, because by taking this risk, and putting this movie out there, and
sharing your story, there will be people who seek help, because you’ve shown
that help is possible. And you fully understand just how difficult the struggle
is.
To Jessie: You are enough.
You were always
enough.
You will be
remembered.
You will be remembered
for the joy you brought to the sport and to your teammates. You’ll be remembered
as a fierce competitor who left it all on the field.
The film is
streaming now on Peacock and available on Apple TV.
Here’s the
trailer: https://youtu.be/zqbeo8ruAUg
To read a little
more about it:
https://www.usskiandsnowboard.org/news/threshold-untold-story-jessie-diggins-premieres-nbcs-peacock
Directed and
Produced by: Lars Brinkema & Torsten Brinkema
Executive
Producer: Torsten Brinkema, Patrick Dempsey
Written by: Lars
Brinkema
Producer: Mark
Steele, Samantha Taylor
Editor: Yaniv
Elani, JD Marlow
Music by:
Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore
Director of
Photography: Torsten Brinkema & Lars Brinkema.
Olympics
Post-Scripts:
I’d planned to do
a post-script to my previous post in February, and there were a couple of
directions I could’ve gone. To be honest, this is the first year I’ve even
really watched much of the Olympics. I missed the past 30 or 40 years because I
was working, and would catch only a headline or highlight here or there on the
news. I’ve been living under a rock – literally, figuratively, and
metaphorically! More on that later.
US Hockey Gold:
Yay Women, Tsk-Tsk-Tsk Men
There was the
amazing bookend mirror gold medals won by the US Women’s Hockey Team followed
by the US Men’s Hockey team, and we got to celebrate that for like one
millisecond, until the President’s call to the men’s locker room, saying he’d “probably
have to invite the women’s team too,” as if. My reaction: Tsk tsk tsk. This
took me right back to sophomore year of high school English class (and that was
a LONG TIME AGO), when the teacher would invariably say some stupid sexist
thing multiple times every class, and the girls, we would tsk. At first it was
just a natural reaction, one or two of us, but then it became a thing, every
girl in the room tsk-ing for like 5 minutes, so loud he couldn’t talk over us.
It would’ve been nice if some of the guys had joined in. And it would’ve been
nice if the men’s team had called out the President in that moment: “Bro, those
chicks are awesome, and way more deserving, they’ve medaled so many more times
than we have. Didn’t you watch their game?” Total respect and admiration for
the US Women’s Hockey team, especially Captain Hilary Knight, goalie Aerin
Frankel, and winning shot-maker Megan Keller. I thought Hilary put it best,
when she said it wasn’t her job to explain someone else’s bad behavior. Bravo!
Paralympics
Just when I
thought I could start prying my fingernails from the ceiling, here come the
Paralympics, athletes hurtling down mountainsides again. Wow, just wow, so
inspiring. Especially the story of cross-country skier Oksana Masters. Cheering
you guys on!
Pain
And then I
thought about digging a little more into the topic of pain, as I’d heard the
announcers repeatedly say how Jessie Diggins faced and embraced pain to get
past it, and maximize her performance. Because I’m like way on the other end of
this spectrum now. Sure, in my rugby-playing days, we all said, “no pain, no
gain,” and we worked our asses off to be in the best shape possible so we could
play on game day, and not get mopped up on the field by the other team, which
was a real concern for a 110-pound hooker. But now, this is Retired Rose
speaking, and I literally say in my most recent book, when talking about
exercise: If you experience pain, stop. In fact, if you could stop a little
just before feeling any pain, that would be even better. First, I don’t want to
get sued by anyone for doing something mentioned in my book. That would be
painful. But also, at this stage in my life, one missed rep is better than a
month of physical therapy!
And so, at first,
I thought Jessie and I are pretty far apart on this topic. I’m a big weenie
when it comes to pain. But then I thought about it. I just retired from my career
as a Geologist with the US Army Corps of Engineers last May after 33 years, the
last twenty as a first-line supervisor, and I realized that maybe we weren’t so
different. Type A, driven to excel, and always do our best. Need someone to review
the Feasibility Study report for the New York New Jersey Harbor Deepening
Channel Improvement project? Sure, I can fit that in, on top of everything
else. I put myself through repeated periods of burnout and exhaustion
throughout my career, landing in the ER a couple of times with migraines and
dehydration. None of my supervisors ever knew about it (I think). And for what?
Medals? Well, yeah, actually, the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal. The
Timothy Skeen Geotechnics Professional of the Year. The NY NJ project was the team
of the year. It was good work, important work, with good people.
But at what cost? And why? At what point did the work stop feeding me, and start feeding on me, at my own expense? At the expense of my own health and relationships. I’d forget to eat lunch some days. I was too busy. I’d come home late every night. The demands of the job only grew over time, as both the size of the section grew and the span of missions expanded. Geology covers a lot of ground. Looking back now, I ask: Why did I do it? Why did it have to be so hard? Yet, I couldn’t stop myself either. Was this also a repetitive behavior that caused self-harm? I only stopped – retired – when I literally couldn’t do it anymore. This thing, you could call it workaholism maybe. Maybe we’re not so different.
On some level, it
must have been what I wanted to do, because I kept doing it, right? And maybe
it’s a case of the old saying, everywhere you go, you bring the weather.
But I hope the
next generation figures out a better way to do things.
Yet it wasn’t all
bad. I had some amazing opportunities. I liked the work and I liked the people.
And I was able to take the month of February off in 2020 to finish my book.
And then I
thought I might pivot to a post about retirement. About getting back on the
other path, after taking that sharp turn at the fork where two roads diverged,
changing majors for the umpteenth time, from English to Geology, because I knew
two things: I needed a job when I graduated, and I had never seen “novelist
wanted” in the classified section ever, and I had spent a lot of time scouring
want ads back in the day. But Robert
Frost had it wrong. There aren’t just two roads, but hundreds, and some are big
changes in course, but most are the micro-decisions made every day, that add up
over time to shape our lives.
If all is either
Olympics or training, as Maxim’s parents told him, then in the writing world, there
is writing and not-writing. Aside from writing, everything else is planning,
preparation, and gathering material. And I’ve had a lot of years to gather
material since changing majors sophomore year in college. I want to write a beautiful story that moves
people. Despite all the ills and horrors of the world: ICE, Renee Nicole Good,
Alex Pretti, and now Iran. Such sad times.
A song for the
day:
“Love’s Divine”
by Seal because we all need love and love’s divine:
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/iczaDcixBj4?si=N9u_p0Bp6uEplsRT
Books &
Upcoming:
If anyone wants copies of my books,
they’re both on Amazon, but for the rugby book, just reach out in a comment,
and I’ll send you a copy. It will be simpler.
The Happy Clam is available to bookstores via Ingram, and
online also via Bookshop.org.
References:
The movie
review photos are just screenshots from the trailer.
© 2026 Rosemary A. Schmidt
Rose Schmidt is the author of The Happy Clam (© 2020), and Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life
(© 2004), both published by Gainline Press. The views expressed herein are
solely those of the author, and do not represent the views of any other agency
or organization. Use of individual quotes with proper citation and attribution,
within the limits of fair use, is permitted. To request permission to re-use or
reprint any of the content on the site, please contact me.
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