BODHI

In Kathryn Bigelow's 'Point Break' (1991), Patrick Swayze plays Bodhi (short for Bodhisattva) in which he displays a darker side to his craft as an actor, channeling a Dennis Wilson/Charlie Manson vibe with a 90s type of nihilistic machismo that includes a predilection for extreme sports and criminality. The character anticipates the pseudo/spiritual crime philosophy of Michael Mann's 'Heat' (1995) and the far less holistic Grand Theft Auto computer games (Rockstar). It says a lot about Swayze's ability as an actor that he could so successfully corrupt the more wholesome aspects of his 'apple pie' screen persona which had previously been deployed a year earlier to great effect in 'Ghost' (1990). Having watched some of his old interviews on You Tube recently, including the brilliant Gavin Esler exchange on BBC's 'Hardtalk' from 2006, it‘s clear the actor was consistently candid about his suffering with demons throughout his life. In his portrayal of Bodhi we see the duality between his angels and his devils as the surfer guru/bank robber lives for the moment with little regard for the consequences of doing so. In this sense the character foreshadows De Niro's role of Neil McCauley in 'Heat' who famously opines about his own Zen street philosophy: "don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."

“I loved Bodhi because I identified with his quest for perfection and the ultimate adrenaline high.” - Patrick Swayze

Interesting to note that Swayze was continually seeking for a spiritual home himself having explored various religious paths only to finally settle on Soka Gakkai Buddhism - a Japanese religious movement founded on the teachings of the 13th-century Japanese priest Nichiren. There's nothing unusual about Hollywood stars dabbling (mostly superficially) in Buddhism but its fascinating to observe just how much the thrill-seeking spiritual demon character of Bodhi aligns with Swayze's risk taking in life and art and how eventually, having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer that both ravaged his body and stole his handsome features, he found some form of deep solace with the religion mostly strongly associated with the dissolving of one's ego/self into totality. If only someone had told Norma Desmond in 'Sunset Boulevard'.

Of course, it's easy for me to over-romanticise the scant few details about the actor's spiritual pursuits. For perhaps, like Bodhi when faced with the prospect of being imprisoned at the end of 'Point Break' and robbed of his love of extreme freedom, Swayze felt understandably terrified by the prospect of dying and wasn't at all comforted by his restless spiritual tourism. But judging from the lucid and self aware interviews he gave later in his life I sense here was a man who would have seen the bigger picture beyond the illusion of samsara, even if it broke his self in the process.

When the outlaw Bodhi submits to the 50 year freak wave at Waimea Beach in the final scene of 'Point Break' he is admitting in his own way that there is a power bigger than his own reckless ego, which has acted as if immune to mortal weakness.

For as the giant wave comes crashing down on the disappearing surfing figure, there can be no doubt that death is the one immutable law that no one can escape from and the illusion of freedom is just that.

An illusion.