Hard Things Are Often Times Really Fun { A Movie review and interview }

A true adventure story, filled with faith and fun.




72, The Movie starring Samuel Gilmore, Crusoe Johnson, Sharar Johnson and Zadok Johnson.


Buy here.




My Rating: Five stars; Family friendly.

Running time: Approximately 1 hour, five minutes.

Back cover:

What Would happen if you were to spend the next 72 hours out in the wilderness with only what you could fit into a quart-sized container and the clothes on your back?

Do you think you could survive the experience?

What if it were the dead of winter...

What if there were no modern conveniences...

Would you be tough enough to make it through?

My review:
It all starts out with four friends and brothers ready for adventure and a new challenge.

For 72 hours they will live in the wilderness and bring nothing but what they are wearing and a quart jar. To make it even harder, they will go in the middle of winter, when few animals are to be found, and even fewer plants.

It will take a lot of imagination and working together to survive the three days.

They will need shelter, fire, warmth and strength. They will relearn the value of friendship, working together and what it really means to live. Everything will have a new perspective. And maybe when it's all done, they won't just be surviving but thriving.

Follow them as they share their faith, experiences, thoughts and convictions. Watch as they learn to do new things, try new ideas, and make amazing new discoveries.

Through it all they will come out all the better. And then it will be your turn to be challenged. Are you willing to be uncomfortable?


Thoughts:
Most boys will love this video and want to start on a journey of their own. It will give them courage and inspiration to go out there and do something worth doing.

But not only boys will enjoy this film. I think the whole family will love it. I've seen a few survival shows, and out of them all this one tops the list.

It is well made, has many good underlying morals, the pacing feels just right, plenty of fun effects, and the music is superb. It doesn't get boring, but keeps you curious and interested.

Lots of action, plenty of fun humor, yet it has a good solid seriousness about it.

So, check it out!! You won't regret watching it!

And now three of the guys from 72 are here to answer a few questions about the movie!

Note: All three are brothers. So, the interview was... rather interesting at times :). Zadok, the eldest likes gardening, Sharar is into science/inventing, and Crusoe likes all sorts of stuff especially hunting. Of course all three are into survivalism.




Welcome, Zadok, Sharar and Crusoe!

Zadok: Hey, how's it going!
Sharar: Hello!
Crusoe: Hi!


Could you each tell me a bit about yourselves? Are you Christians?

Sharar: Yeah, absolutely.
Crusoe: Definitely.
Zadok: I love Jesus.


How did your faith in Yeshua/Jesus affect your movie?

Zadok: We made it out of that understanding.
Sharar: It was really great because you have lots of time to talk to Him. Being in the wild/woods just brings you closer to Him. It's very peaceful with little creatures - well, there weren't that many creatures.

It made you pay attention more.
Crusoe: I'll have to agree with what Sharar said. There was a lot of time to talk to Him, pray with Him by ourselves and just give him the glory of the awesome nature that was out there.


Who came up with the idea to do a 72 hour survival trip, then movie?

Crusoe: All of us.
Zadok: Yeah, it was a mutual understanding that it just needed to happen. Sam Gilmore, our buddy, and I were the original ones that pushed for it, but it came out of all of our hearts.


Did you always agree?

Sharar: Not at all.
Zadok: No, no way.
Crusoe: Definitely not.


Why did you decide to make the movie?

Sharar: To encourage people and to encourage ourselves. We had a desire for making films and had a great time doing it.
Crusoe: Yeah, we did it to encourage men to get out there and be men.
Zadok: It was a bringing of what we love to do to others and sharing it with the world.


What is your goal with this movie? How do you hope others will respond to it?

Zadok: I hope that young men will see this, and will venture out, seeking God for themselves, in the forest and learn that struggles are worth while as long as they are done unto Him.

Now for some fun questions! Earlier it had been agreed upon that everyone would bring no more than the volume of a quart jar. At the beginning of the trip, you all walk up to a table and lay your "quart" jars on it, and show off all you had brought. But I noticed that Sharar also had some sort of bag besides his quart. Why/ what was this?

Sharar: That was a poncho and we had agreed - not on film - that we were allowed to bring a poncho because it was a part of your clothing as we had determined it. I was kind of going as a minor. When I was up in Alaska gold mining, we wore ponchos quite often to keep the rain out. They are very handy in survival situations.

That's good to know. I thought you'd cheated or something :).

Sharar: Wouldn't put it past me.

I think it was on the last morning that you were all eating something called White Delight. What was this?

Zadok: White Delight is a food that Sam Gilmore, our survival partner and good friend, came up with, and actually it is a food they use on the slopes of Mount Everett. It is organic sugar, ground wheat and ground rice. It's kind of its own little recipe that cooks up nice for camping.
Crusoe: Organic sugar. Flour. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was quite good. We brought it in the quart jar.


Several times I saw a book / books. I figured they were Bibles. Is this correct? How did you fit those into your quart jars?

Zadok: Ah, that's a good question. We made an exemption there.
Crusoe: Yeah, they were Bibles.
Sharar: I think Zadok mentions in the film that you are allowed to bring a Bible.
Zadok: Yeah, I don't think we actually mentioned that. But we had said it was the quart jar plus our Bibles. You should always have a Bible with you wherever you go.
The quart jar was the only "things". We weren't going to use the Bibles to cut up and start fires with or anything. All it added was that we were able to read scriptures as we sat around the fire talking and praying.


Have any of you ever eaten a frog? How do you know it tastes like chicken?

Crusoe: Yeah, I've eaten frogs. Tastes like chicken.
Sharar: Lots of people eat frog legs. They taste like chicken. It's a southern thing - battered, fried. Probably not the most healthy, but okay.
Crusoe: The best way I've had them is battered. We've all had frog legs.
Sharar: Hundreds of them.


Once in the movie Zadok is seen catching water with a container out of a black trash bag. Was this some sort of water filterer?

Zadok: No, I've done - not to be boastful - a lot of hiking and wilderness survival training and a trash bag is one of the very most useful things for its size. Kind of something I've adopted in all of my survival kits.

- Right now Sharar is laughing at me because he knows how much I use trash bags.

You can build a shelter out of them by splitting the sides and tying them to sticks, or catch water, or you can use them for water filtration if you build a still and use the sunlight to evaporate water and then condense it on the plastic bag itself.

Other than that it's wonderful for carrying water. Only thing is you have to be careful that it doesn't leak. After awhile it can tend to get holes just from carrying it / thorns and stuff.

So if you're carrying it all the time I'd wrap it in a shirt or something to protect it. But it can carry heaps of water. More than all of the other guys' quart jars. Haha.

Now I have some questions about Crusoe's cut;
1. Why were you barefoot in the dead of winter?

Crusoe: My socks and shoes were wet from catching fish, and that's not really the best thing, to get wet when you're in the dead of winter. So I had them drying out at the fire.

I was cutting some straw, and slipped on the stock which cut into my foot.

2. Did you really cut yourself?

Crusoe: Yes.

3. And was that the real cut that was shown in the movie?

Crusoe: Yes, just cleaned up.


Was the trip ever miserable? Did you all get along? Were you ever really hungry?

Crusoe: We were all definitely hungry at times. At some points Sharar & I and Sam & Zadok would disagree, but we always worked it out.
Zadok: Yeah, I'd say as much as there was a tendency to disagree just because you're starving and have different opinions we also functioned really well as a team - kind of high talented team work.
No I thrived on it. But it's not something you'd want to live every single day.
Sharar: Yes, we were very hungry and we got along better than I probably would have expected.


At the end of the movie everyone walks up to the same table as at the beginning and leave their things there, then walk off as if going home. Then the scene changes. You are all running down a gravel road and jump into a pick-up - still carrying your things. How do these two scenes fit together? It appears in one that you walked home, and the other that you were picked up and given a ride home.

Zadok. Both occurred. We did walk to our departure point, and we also were departed from that area in a truck. Or from that region in the back of a pick-up truck.
So, both did happen. They were just two separate locations. So, kind of base camp departure and the truck to get us into the region.
Crusoe: We came to the table that was out in the woods and then we drove home.


Is there anything else that you would like to add?

Crusoe: Lost a lot of weight - even though I don't have much weight to loose.
Sharar: Yeah, 6lbs I think I lost.
Zadok: I lost probably 5 - 6 pounds. You're just burning so many calories in the freezing cold.

It's a wonderful thing to do. We've done quite a few of these survival trips. This was the second one with no food. You come back with really an understanding - I mean, it's one thing to just fast food, it's another thing to fast food and work with camera gear and work on survival food consumption and gathering / foraging.

And then freeze every night - you burn a lot of calories trying to stay warm. That level right there is what takes it out of you the most - the cold.
I had an awesome time and recommend it to every man on the planet - go out into the forest!

Sharar: Definitely recommend it. It was a lot of fun.

Zadok: You get better at it the more you do. So, go for it guys! Be the man God created you guys to be! Seek God in the wilderness!!
We produced it with the hopes that it would be a welcome challenge for all young boys and men. That people would watch this film and then go out and do adventures, whether they create them to their own standards taking more supplies with them or go limited like us.

Or for different times, whether it's only a half day adventure or a two week hike.

But if they'd just go out and do adventures and take this 72 hour challenge persay, and then in doing that share it with their friends and they'd share it with their friends and then with others and it would grow.

So, I'd encourage any who watches the film whether they do the challenge or not, to pass on the film. We made it for people to get inspired, to see they can go out and conquer and accomplish things, whether it's from agriculture to working on inventions to survivalism. It's kind of that stick in and do and share it with your friends. So, spread the word. 72!


Thank you for joining me! Have a great day, Zadok, Sharar, and Crusoe - and may you each have many more wonderful adventures!

Zadok: Thank you!
Sharar: Thank you!
Crusoe: Thanks!

Photo credits: most of these photos were taken by Rashida Lael. Thanks for letting me use them, Rashida!!

Visit her Facebook and her website

Title credits: Taken from 72, the Movie.