The Response to Evil. Part 2. Capra, Gibson, and Nolan
- Jul 19, 2018
- 3 min read
Earlier this week we talked about the powerful images that Tolkien writes of the different possible responses to evil and about what the heroic response looks like. "When faced with the overwhelming enormity of evil, over and over again, the characters who actually make a difference for good are the ones who take up the task that is set before them. Usually this task seems too big for them to accomplish but also too small to make any difference against their Enemy. But it is these heroic actions, small and great, that are woven together and eventually do actually defeat the impossible darkness." (Read full post here).
There are many other stories that illustrate this heroic and crucial choice. Three in particular stand out to me as painting especially poignant and encouraging imagery of it. (expect spoilers for all three) I have intentionally understated the power and beauty of all three - partly because to try to capture the beauty of a story in analysis is stupid and unjust and partly in hopes that you will go and experience their beauty for yourself.
Frank Capra's 1939 film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is the story of a naive idealist who somehow ends up as a Senator. His wide-eyed enthusiasm changes to discouragement and despair when he discovers deep-seated corruption, even in the friend he trusted. Jean Arthur's character restores his hope and he stages a heroic filibuster until he literally passes out. The political machine he was opposing is much too powerful for him to even begin to hurt it and its power to shut down every effort of his makes things look pretty hopeless. But in the end his words and his perseverance change the heart of one of the corrupt senators who confesses the plot.
Mel Gibson's recent Hacksaw Ridge is incredibly hard to watch and incredibly worth it. Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) is an excellent model of how to respond to evil throughout the film - consistently thoughtful in strategy and heroic in execution ("With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don't seem like such a bad thing to me to want to put a little bit of it back together"). But one of the most powerful images of how to respond to evil that I've ever seen is in the climax of the film. In his lowest moment, ready to give up at the enormity of evil, he hears the cries of the wounded and takes that to be where God wants him. He spends the entire night rescuing wounded men from under the noses of the Japanese while an air strike is going on. Over and over his prayer is "please Lord, let me get one more." He doesn't retreat until he's being actively pursued by the Japanese, and it isn't until he returns to camp that we find out that he saved the lives of 75 men - one at a time.
And doing the thing that is too big and too small is basically the entire story of Dunkirk. Near the beginning of World War II, almost the entire British army was trapped across the channel with the Germans advancing. Given the conditions, it was a lofty goal to get 10% of the men home. With the aid of a fleet of civilian boats, they eventually got the vast majority of the men home, restoring their army to protect Britain from the coming invasion and effectively changing the course of history. Christopher Nolan recently made a movie about it and it's not only one of my favorite movies, it also is basically made out of those moments. Over and over we see the enormous amount of courage it takes to do the thing that is too big and too small, and also how vitally important it is. The one who opens a door before he jumps ship, the one who goes to rescue the drowning fighter pilot even though the last time he did that it turned out to be very dangerous, not to mention the entire premise of using tiny civilian boats to evacuate an army. If you haven't seen it please go watch it now! If you have, please enjoy one of the most cathartic and unexpected turns in a story that I have ever experienced.
So take courage! Doing the thing that is too big and too small is usually really hard and you won't usually see the immediate fruits of it. But let these powerful stories remind you, that those are exactly the acts that will change things for the better.
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