Ballerina: John Wick’s world isn’t just bullets—It’s packed with money lessons too

The world of John Wick is not complete without The Continental, Charon (the inimitable Lance Reddick) and the Manager Winston Scott (the ever so awesome Ian McShane), but we begin with a little girl hiding in a secret passageway behind the bookshelf, clutching a present from her father – a music box where a ballerina dances to Tchaikovsky’s beloved tune from Swan Lake. She watches her father fight fierce assassins and the awful man who has come to separate her father and her.

She is rescued by Winston Scott who hands her over to Ruska Roma headed by the once beautiful Angelica Huston who is now plain scary. She trains ballerinas – girls who are trained in dance so they can be limber as assassins. This little girl is Eve Maccaro and the training in ballet and the subsequent fights are straight out of every action movie genre where the ordinary hero trains to fight the villain. So you demolish your popcorn and samosas to ‘Fight Like a Girl’ (Evanescence feat. K-Flay) plays endlessly. Yes, she avenges her father’s death and yes, we are rewarded for sitting through a predictable action film by John Wick who makes a grudging appearance.

What money lessons do we learn from this tale of revenge?

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Classical ballet is investing conservatively

Ballet emphasizes structure, precision and a focus on technique. Anna Pavlova, Margaret Fonteyn, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolph Nureyev are unforgettable stars who made perfection look easy. In the film the Ruska Roma are a fierce group of Roma Gypsies based in Germany who have a seat at ‘the Table’. John Wick has been a member of the group. Eve Maccaro is put through practice sessions to achieve perfection. Sharon Duncan Brewster plays one of the trainers who tells Eve: You lose because you allow him (her opponent) to control the narrative. You are a girl, so fight like one.

Align conservative ballet to your investment style and you will be investing in low-risk assets like bonds and stable dividend stocks. That’s because you want predictable returns rather than high growth.

Contemporary ballet is like growth investing

Contemporary ballet incorporates a broader range of movements and interpretations.

As an investor in growth stocks you focus on emerging markets, aiming at substantial returns although at a higher risk. After all, Eve actually drives up to the Austrian village of Hallstatt, she knows nothing about and adapts to fighting in an unknown terrain and making the most of it. As soon as her training is over and she begins to earn as a protector, she knows that she has to get that lifelong revenge she wants.

She uses her coin at the Continental and then at the armory to get information. The fight at Frank’s gun shop reminds you of how you educated yourself about emerging markets before you invested your hard earned money in the high risk, high reward venture.

Modern ballet is like adaptive investing

When Eve drives into Hallstatt, she knows she has a fight on her hands, but with every adult resident? Woah! Eve has to use every hammer, dinner plate, vase, chair, door within her reach to kill or maim the cult members who have been ordered to eliminate the ‘outsider’. Whether it is in the coffee shop, the kitchen, the armory, or the tunnels underneath the village, Eve uses everything she gets her hands on in the fight at the end. You might shake your head at the water vs. fire as if you were watching a Hollywood version of Brahmastra, but you chuckle when the two women hit each other with plates.

Modern ballet is a blend of elements from different ballet styles. As you adjust your portfolio based on the market conditions and changing circumstances, you too are mirroring the modern ballet.

Character ballet is like value investing

Eve Macarro develops a distinct personality through the film. She is so focussed in her endeavor to kill the man who killed her father, even the dangerous Baba Yaga is persuaded to give her until midnight to get her job done. Even though the village is filled to the gills with trained assassins, their chancellor (played by Gabriel Byrne) realises that Eve cannot be controlled and asks Ruska Roma to send in someone to stop her.

You will be reminded of Bond villain Blofeld who plays with a white cat when you see the Chancellor pet his black dog when he says, ‘Let the wolf kill his prey.’

As an investor, when you discover undervalued assets with a potential for future growth, you are like, value investing.

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Whatever your investing style is, I hope you will be inspired by Ballerina and practice your technique, learn to be flexible, because market conditions change and you have to adjust your strategy much like a dancer who adjusts their movement during a performance. Investing is a long-term process and it is important to enjoy the learning and growth along the way, just as a dancer enjoys the process of mastering their craft. Of course, don’t be so carried away by the blood being spilled on the screen that you render your samosa uneatable by dousing them in ketchup.

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.