Say what you will about Sylvester Stallone, but I like the dude. He’s straightforward, sentimental, purposeful, and he cares about important things.
This is an odd week for me and this blog. Beginning on a sad but triumphant note regarding patriotism and what freedom costs, continuing on to the tragedies often inflicted upon people in this life, and hopefully concluding with this post encapsulated in the title, you might think I’ve become depressed or am focusing on the morbid. What brought this on, you ask? The casualties and collateral damage of sinful humanity.
Tonight I watched “Rambo”, co-written and directed by Stallone, once again playing the Vietnam Special Forces war veteran John Rambo, somehow turning up in the sweaty and often rainy jungles of Burma, now known as the infamous Myanmar, catching Cobras (yes, snakes). His publicly stated intention for this film was to bring awareness to the atrocities of yet another fiendish government murdering its people for no apparent reason other than absolute fear-generated control.
Whether or not Stallone’s interpretation of the real crisis is accurate, from what we’ve gathered from other similar dictatorships around this world, gruesome cruelty is exercised in a brutality most of us cannot conceive of even in mortal combat because this and other genocides can only be described as demonically inspired.
Yesterday Mary DeMuth tackled the topic of violence at “The Master’s Artist”, and frequently when discussing writing about violence, sex, and language in novels or on screen, the word “gratuitous” often surfaces. Is it included just to shock, to titillate, to push the readers’ or viewers’ buttons, in other words? Is it included just because it can be or does it serve the story or film or drama? Well, ultimately that becomes a matter of opinion. Some people will always be offended by either of the Big Three, and some people will be hard-pressed to be offended by much of anything. As Christians, it is our duty and privilege to determine what the Lord would have us do in our writing, performing, filmmaking, or whatever the creative outlet might be. We answer up to Him.
You cannot discuss the subject of violence without mentioning audience. “Rambo” is definitely not for many. It is unbelievably violent, but it makes its point by doing so. This is not even “ordinary” violence for a war movie. The viciousness of this murderous army and what it takes to combat them makes it extreme by any standard. I cannot recommend it from the standpoint of watching the maiming and brutalizing and dismembering explosions. I can only say I understand his intended vision for the film. The one and only “lovely” part of the film is the theme, a hauntingly pretty piece of music contrasting everything else on screen.
What ends up being a side-note to the film is the naiveté of those who are sure they can infiltrate these demonic strongholds and actually make a difference without having a clue as to what is truly happening within the government and being unprepared for what that is. Knowing a little bit about Sly Stallone, I don’t think he was taking a potshot at Christian missionaries as some are eager to do but instead wanted to emphasize that just a desire to help the unfortunate victims of a war torn country isn’t enough preparation to engage this kind of heinous foe.
We enjoy the privileges, comforts, and securities of the wonderful USA and one becomes acutely aware of those blessings when viewing a film like “Rambo”. In so many countries around the world, people wake and go to sleep with sorrows upon sorrows. They don’t know much else besides fear, bare survival, and the ever present threats of murderous assaults. Most of us are strangers to this kind of physical oppression. And hope to remain so.
Father, how can we thank you enough for the blessings you have given us? Help us to remember those who suffer daily both here and in far off places, to remember them, to care about them. We thank you for your loving kindness, and we know your ways are higher than ours. We cannot know the ways of the world. We only know you are the Redeemer and that you live and rescue souls from sin and death. Thank you, Jesus. We are desperate for you.
*Please remember Kristy Dykes and her family.*