I don’t consider myself to be a
movie buff, but I enjoy a good movie every now and then. During the 12 Days of Christmas, I watched
the remake of The Magnificent Seven. I remember seeing the old Magnificent Seven and some of the old
Westerns—I guess that marks me of a certain era! I enjoyed the old movie and, since I’ve
enjoyed Denzel Washington’s acting, thought I’d watch the new Magnificent Seven.
I have to say that I was extremely
disappointed in the new rendition of the old movie. I confess that I’m now quite disillusioned
with Denzel Washington. I know that he’s
played a multitude of characters from villains to the good guy to everything in
between, and his acting is always great, but after seeing Magnificent Seven, my estimation of Denzel dropped a notch.
A few years ago, I saw The Book of Eli, which starred
Washington; I had a strong visceral reaction to the violence depicted in that
movie and to the premise that the King James Version of the Bible will save us.
What I found with these Washington
movies is that they glorified violence to a very high degree, justifying
Washington’s character’s use of violence because he was an agent of good. These two movies presented a false dichotomy
between good and evil. The villains were
stereotypically bad and Washington’s characters correspondingly stereotypically
righteous.
Real life is never either one way or
another. Real life is always a bit of
this and a bit of that; it is always grey.
Villains are never completely bad and good people never always
good. We are quite simply… human!
And yet, The Magnificent Seven draws us into this false world of
extremes. Is the hero justified in using
violence to the degree that he did? Do
we take away from this movie the idea that only by exacting revenge with
prejudice will we see justice? Is the military-industrial
complex myth that might will win out at play in this movie, and is it a depiction
of reality?
As a proponent of non-violence as a
legitimate means for achieving peace with justice, I object to the
irresponsible use of violence as an agent of goodness, which we often see in
Hollywood movies. I object to the
dualistic and simplistic portrayal of good and evil. I object to the Western myth that a
six-shooter will always get you justice.
Alternatively, I would like to commend
a couple of Tommy Lee Jones movies I’ve seen recently: In the Valley of Elah and The
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.
Jones plays complex characters who are trying to do what is right for
the sake of justice; but Jones’ characters often make mistakes. These movies lift up for us the human
condition of trying to make sense of how we might live together with all of our
differences.
As a follower of Jesus and the Way
of Love, I affirm that there is a different path to justice than always
reverting to violence. We need to change
our stories and our myths to present a truer vision of humanity and another
possibility, i.e. that justice can be achieved through love, reconciliation,
human encounter, compassion, and hope.
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