'Peace Walker' defies odds and follows its bliss

Chase Korte in a scene from Peace Walker

For almost ten years it has existed only as short, tantalising clips on YouTube. But Peace Walker has now been uploaded in full, and this unusual and remarkable documentary is a treasure to watch.

In many ways it has defied the odds to see the light of day. It was made on a shoestring budget and half the crew abandoned the project part way through. Six months after filming was completed its main star, Chase Korte, died at the age of 24 when the car he was driving was hit by a drink-driver.

Korte had previously appeared in a number of TV commercials and short films in the US, and as an extra in an Oliver Stone feature film.

Peace Walker was initially to be a hybrid film following one man's walk for peace from John O'Groats on the northeastern tip of Scotland, to Land's End in the southwest corner of England. The fictional side of the film was to feature Korte playing a character called Ray, who sets out on the 1,100-mile journey after his brother is killed in the conflict in Iraq. 'Ray' was to be the peace walker interacting with strangers along the way.

At the same time as filming the 'Ray' storyline, moviemaker Tara Golden would use a second camera to capture documentary footage of the journey.

It was an ambitious and unorthodox project. What's more, there was virtually no budget and the crew mostly relied on the goodwill of strangers for accommodation each night.

The four-person crew began filming in early June 2006. On the first day Golden, an Arizona-based independent director, injured her ankle after walking 18 miles with Korte. It had been her intention to walk the full distance from John O'Groats to Land's End, but following the advice of the others she put such ambitions aside - although things would later change.

The project was inspired by Mildred Lisette Norman, the original Peace Pilgrim who, in her mid-40s, started a peace walk in 1953 that lasted 28 years as she continuously walked back and forth across the US. She changed her name to Peace Pilgrim and vowed to "remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace - walking until given shelter and fasting until given food."

Chase Korte during the filming of Peace Walker

Crucial to the integrity of Golden’s Peace Walker project was to actually do the 1,100-mile hike. As Korte walked up to 20 miles a day, Golden and the two crew travelled in a rental vehicle, filming at strategic points. Beyond directing, Golden also had to secure accommodation each night for the crew either for free, like the original Peace Pilgrim, or at minimum cost.

Within a matter of days there was tension between Golden and cinematographer Mike Herd regarding the direction of the film. A few weeks later, when the crew reached Glasgow, Herd quit.

At this point I should mention another aspect of the Peace Walker project as it originally unfolded, and that was the daily online diary entries that Golden and Korte wrote separately. These candid and uncensored postings went onto a webpage and chartered the inner highs, lows and conflicts of the two as the journey progressed.

I first stumbled upon the Peace Walker project in late 2006 when I read these online journal entries [which are no longer accessible] and watched a clip of Peace Walker on YouTube. That short snippet was voted among the most inspiring videos to appear on the website during 2006, an accolade that garnered it more than one million views - which was a major achievement at the time on the fledgling YouTube site that had only gone live the year before.

After Herd quit the project, Golden, Korte and production assistant Danny Weiss sat in a city restaurant and discussed options for Peace Walker. The possibility of not going through with the walk brought a forthright reaction from Korte. He leapt to his feet and, before astonished diners, delivered his own impassioned ultimatum – having started the peace walk he was going to see it through regardless and would walk every step of the way. Although not seen in the documentary, the moment was captured in the contemporaneous Peace Walker diary, with Minnesota-born Korte writing:

The walk and the movie, in my mind, were inextricably bound up in each other. I said, "What’s the first thing we say when we tell people about the movie…we say it’s about an American who comes to the UK to hike 1,000 miles for peace. What’s the second thing we say?"

"He’s really doing the hike," Tara replied.

"That’s right. This isn’t just a movie. This IS a peace walk." At some point the whole thing turned into an Oscar scene. I was making an impassioned speech, standing up and yelling in the middle of the restaurant.

However, this was not enough to keep Weiss involved, and he decided to return to the States. The documentary features a scene filmed shortly after the implosion of the film crew, in which Golden and Korte decide to continue, albeit with a reframed project. Korte refers to it as "switching gears" and it now being a documentary about how they had tried to make the film, but had failed, but were going to do the peace walk anyway.

What went before was interesting enough, particularly a touching section featuring Korte walking through the Scottish landscape overlaid with the song 'Brother', a tribute written and performed many years later by his brother Joel Korte. However, the heart of Peace Walker comes in the remainder of the documentary as Korte and Golden tackle the last 700 miles. We see the dynamics of friendship and conflict; the trials and tribulations they face on the road, the places they go and the strangers they meet.

"Follow your bliss," Korte says at one point, quoting the words of Joseph Campbell, the American mythologist and writer. We get the sense Korte is truly following his bliss on the epic walk. "It comes down to love and fear," he muses. When asked if doing a peace walk is creating peace, he reflects, "Maybe it is creating some kind of inner peace."

Korte is happiest when he's away from the roads and traffic. He states that nature and countryside trails give energy, but the road drains it out of you. As he walks the coastal path in Devon and Cornwall on the final leg of the journey, he says, "I do have the best job in the world right now."

Chase Korte, right, walks with route advisor Don Dyer

Peace Walker could well have ended up as no more than a meandering but well-intentioned escapade. However, it provides some genuinely thought-provoking moments on the essence of peace - in all its facets - and builds to a climax as journey's end nears and Golden decides to resume walking. This decision creates a flashpoint between Korte and Golden. There is a conflict of expectations, and it is here that the documentary is most captivating.

Golden explains why she feels compelled to get back on the trail and cries, off camera, as she quietly works through her thoughts with Korte. Then, in a further moment of introspection, she gives voice to her feelings as she films her progress along the coastal path. "I think I'm going to hate this footage later," she comments.

Kudos to Golden for including the scene, along with other insightful moments from the final stages of the walk. For it is here, as the finish line at Land's End nears, that the life-affirming essence of Peace Walker shines through in unexpected ways.

Almost ten years after it was filmed, Peace Walker was released in seven segments on YouTube. Golden's decision to do so stemmed from the short film Faces of the Marchers - The Great March for Climate Action, about a march from California to Washington DC to raise awareness of climate change. She released that film in 2014. The people doing the trans-continental march reminded her of her own passion and hope to inspire people, reported Quo Vadis? - the journal of the Land's End John O'Groats Association.

Peace Walker ends with Golden and Korte reunited. It was February 10, 2007 and they had met to discuss the ongoing editing of the film. A few hours later Korte was killed as he was returning to his home in Los Angeles.

Korte's last words on-camera are poignant. Golden asks if he has any message for the viewers. He replies with a quote from the 1989 movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

"Be excellent to each other."