For those of us who are well past the legal driving age here in the United States, how many of you remember what you were like when you were sixteen years old?  I cannot say that I was exactly like Jessica Watson (Teagan Croft), the real-life Australian teenager who (spoiler alert) became the youngest person to ever circumnavigate the globe solo.  Some adults cannot handle the responsibility of maintaining a Netflix subscription, let alone keeping a boat on track by yourself for twenty-thousand miles without stopping, as well as doing all the cooking, cleaning, and contributing to a blog.  Oh yes, and by the way, she is dyslexic.  Above these mundane activities was a drive in her that kept her going through some of the most difficult moments anyone at any age could endure in any situation.  A calling like that can only come from God, though the movie does not entertain such notions.  Nonetheless, I hope my exploration of this miracle inspires you to get back on Netflix and watch this one.

It would probably not surprise you that some of Jessica’s True Spirit is that of your typical sixteen-year-old, despite being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean alone.  This is not her official around-the-world attempt, but a practice run.  She is on her appropriately named Ella’s Pink Lady, which is the corresponding hue, and emblazoned with the decals of sponsors like a skateboard.  After bopping around while brushing her teeth and doing some routine checks, she lays down for a nap . . . only to soon be jolted awake.  The screeching of metal alongside indicates that she had been hit by a commercial freighter, which snaps her mast and punctures her hull.  Thus, she has to limp back to port in Sydney.  This might not sound like much of an ordeal, especially considering the fact that she survived, but the already suspicious Australian media is on hand when she arrives.  They question the wisdom of letting someone so young try to do what she intends.  Despite the criticism, her parents, Julie (Anna Paquin) and Roger Watson (Josh Lawson), are supportive of their daughter, the second of four, pursuing her dreams.  So, too, is her sailing coach, Ben Bryant (Cliff Curtis), a salty former professional sailor who has twice done what Jessica hopes to do.  While they are all encouraging, the damage sustained by Ella’s Pink Lady requires repairs for which she does not have the money.  Due to this and other concerns, there are calls for her to delay her trip, which would mean that she could not set the record for the youngest person to achieve this sailing feat.  Such is some of the backlash against her plans that there is talk in the Australian parliament of passing a law to prohibit her trip.  With this, and the right time of the calendar approaching to begin, time is of the essence.  She is feeling like it might not happen until Ben takes her to a nearby dry dock to be surprised by a team of people working to fix her boat.  They are soon joined by Ben and the entire Watson family, meaning that she is able to launch on time with everyone seeing her off.  From here, the movie is largely just about a vessel moving through the waves.  Jessica keeps in contact with Ben, who has docked his boat at her parent’s house to help track her progress, and the rest of her family via satellite phone.  This is also how she is able to stay current with her blog, which is maintained by her older sister Emily Watson (Bridget Webb), also posting videos of her daily activities.  I will not describe the entire voyage in detail, but I will hit the highlights for you.  These mainly center on what needs to be done in order for her to complete her quest.  They include crossing the equator, going through every point of longitude, and rounding all the major capes between oceans.  There are also flashbacks interspersed into the proceedings of her as an adolescent (Alyla Browne) and how she decided on this goal.  It is pretty much smooth sailing as she crosses the zero-latitude line, thought she is met with some rough weather.  The first storm she deals with results in being knocked out by a frying pan for a few hours.  Yet, because she is a knowledgeable sailor, she is able to manage and stay afloat.  The first real challenge comes when, while in the Atlantic Ocean, she hits the doldrums.  This happens, primarily in this sea, when there is little or no wind and the current is such that the sea remains calm.  For a ship relying entirely on nature for propulsion, this means no movement.  It is during this period that she experiences some intense loneliness as she is separated by thousands of miles from her loved ones.  She gets a good dose of well-wishes from her mother, and soon thereafter she gets a blow and she is on her way.  Indeed, she is fast approaching Australia, needing only to sail around Tasmania to get back to Sydney, when she is met by a few different storm systems that merge into one.  Ben’s advice is to head to port, which would mean cutting short her trip, but her parents remind her that it is her call.  Thus, the captain of Ella’s Pink Lady decides to ride the storm.  This almost proves fatal when a towering wall of water flips the boat upside down and submerges it fifteen feet under water.  This triggers her emergency warning system, and when Ben and the Watsons find out about this, they fear the worst. Thankfully, the watertight seals on the battered vessel hold, and eventually it bobs back to the surface, saving Jessica.  From there, it is back to Sydney and the completion of her epic journey.

From what I can tell, True Spirit is pretty accurate telling of this real-life story.  While Ben’s character, it seems, is based on a composite of people, much of the rest is faithful to actual events.  I am a sucker for these kinds of tales, especially if they truly happened.  It also has a title, which is also the name of Watson’s book, that is bound to catch the eye of a practicing Catholic.  As I said in the introduction, the desire to achieve such a feat is a calling from God.  Not to be too cliché, but He has a plan and a purpose for your life.  To not follow it usually leads to a great deal of heartache.  I can speak from experience.  Like Jessica, I had a dream growing up of playing professional baseball.  I let the same kinds of people who tried to convince her to not bother trying, citing the dangers, to distract me from my goal.  I did this again when it came to becoming a tenured professor.  Hopefully, this will show you that just because you fall, that does not mean God is finished with you.  It would have been easy for Jessica to, as she puts it, start sneaking out to parties like other teenagers instead of learning to sail.  But she had a vision that only she could see, and that is why I refer to it as a calling from God.  It reminds me of the testimonials you hear from people who enter into religious life in the Church.  Often, they are meant with disapproval from their family and friends who only see the situation in terms of losing the benefit of that person’s company whenever they desire.  Sometimes, that can turn ugly.  This is never easy for the person choosing such a calling, but it is the vision that drives them onward.  There is a grace in such knowledge.  Thankfully, Jessica is blessed with family and friends that are with her every step of the way.  And in this, too, God continues to speak to us.  Since her circumnavigation, she has written two books and received a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA).  This will not look the same for all of us, but such inspiration should at least get us to try.

I highly recommend True Spirit.  During the climactic moment when Ella’s Pink Lady is capsized and it looked like she might die, I held my breath in anticipation.  This comes from caring about the character and wanting to see her succeed.  There is a lot of this in the movie, and it makes for a thrilling watch.