This month, Eve and I talk about Devotion, the story of an unsung hero in a forgotten war. It tells the story of Jesse Brown, the first African-American aviator to complete the United States Navy’s basic flight training program. Devotion introduces us in novel ways to the adversity he faced, the friends he made, and the family that helped keep him flying.
Devotion stars Jonathan Majors (the MCU’s Kng the Conqueror) and Glen Powell (John Glenn from Hidden Figures and Hangman from Top Gun: Maverick) and directed by J.D. Dillard. Music for Devotion is by Chanda Dancy, a composer that we haven’t encountered before but is clearly talented. As far as Eve and I could tell, her score for Devotion was beautifully flawless.
First Impressions
One of the most outstanding achievements of Devotion was how it told the story of the racism that Jesse faced without beating the audience over the head with it (much like Hidden Figures and Red Tails and 42, which we also reviewed). The second more impressive element was how realistically Devotion portrayed the friendship between Jesse and Tom. In real life, friendship isn’t neat and clean; it’s messy but survives the ups and downs.
As we’ve discussed before, any time a true story or a book is translated onto film (Devotion being both), changes are always needed. Not only do the writers and director need to maintain pacing and demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the characters, but there has to be a beginning, climax and ending. We see these changes in Devotion, but after looking at them, they all make sense. For example, the scenes between Tom and Daisy didn’t involve Tom in real life but another character from the movie, Carol Mohring. But Tom’s perspective is crucial to the framing of the movie. Jesse never disobeyed orders to make a maverick bridge-bombing run, so the subsequent write-up for insubordination never happened. But the film needs to drive home a critical element of the movie: Tom got where he was by doing what his instructors and commanders told him to do and following the rules, but Jesse had spent his military career with instructors and commanders telling him to give up. If either of them had done the opposite, they would have failed.
In the same way, Devotion focuses on the relationship between Jesse and Tom without sacrificing the authenticity of the setting. While, in reality, the scale of the events was far more significant, Devotion portrayed them with accuracy and thoughtfulness without allowing them to overshadow the importance of the relationship between the two main characters.
Using Adversity to Make You Stronger
In one of the more shocking scenes of the movie, Tom walks in on Jesse as he stares in the bathroom mirror and spews the most vile insults imaginable at himself. We learn later that Jesse carried a book in which he’d written every horrid slur. He then used these, looking in the mirror, to better prepare himself to withstand these attacks when he encountered them. (See ScreenRant’s Devotion True Story: What The Movie Gets Right & What It Changes for more truth in Devotion.) Of course, it’s hard not to see this as a motivational way to build his anger, which I did, but, in retrospect, that was my projecting my insecurities on Ensign Brown. Devotion didn’t imply that was the case at all.
How should Christians handle this kind of abuse should they encounter it? How do you think they do it in India or China? The Word of God has some examples and instructions for us: cast aside thoughts of personal strength and fall upon the LORD:
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. The LORD is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:17–18)
The Apostle Peter reminds us that we need to emulate Christ when we are abused, insulted, or threatened:
For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He did not commit sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth; when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:21-23)
It is our abusers who need the example of Christ. When we face this abuse, we should offer even more than they demand:
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (Matthew 5:38-42)
Jesse’s bathroom mirror “training” prepares him well, if Devotion is any measure. He doesn’t record the insults to hold them against the insulter but to gird his loins against them from others. He doesn’t attack his insulters—he ignores them. This, too, is the wisdom of the Word:
Whoever shows contempt for his neighbor lacks sense, but a person with understanding keeps silent. (Proverbs 11:12)
A fool’s displeasure is known at once, but whoever ignores an insult is sensible. (Proverbs 12:16)
This attitude, which would have been critical to Jesse’s survival in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, underscored an interesting dynamic in Jesse’s and Tom’s friendship. Jesse’s career and survival hinged on resisting the naysayers and bigots, while Tom’s hinged on obedience and rule-following. But when Tom witnessed someone abusing Jesse, Tom itched to fight back, chucking the rules to protect his wing man. Jesse knew the unwritten rules, though: fighting back gets you killed.
Be Quiet and Be There
Like Eve and I, Tom Hudner sought to solve any problems he saw. God gifts some with an overly analytical mind, breaking down issues and looking for solutions without being asked to. But neither Jesse nor his wife Daisy expected Tom to be Jesse’s savior. They just wanted him to be a friend. When arguing over the right thing to do, Jesse says to Tom, “Just be my wing man, pal. That’s it. Forget the life saver, and get in the … water!” At the medal of honor ceremony, Tom laments to Daisy, “I ‘m sorry I couldn’t save him.” Her response was the same as Jesse’s. “Tom, that was never your job. Never anyone’s job to save Jesse. I asked you to be there for him. And you were.”
In the end, Tom understood that. As Jesse froze and bled to death, Tom was there with him. He’d accepted the inevitable and was “in the water” with Jesse, fighting grief and his nature to be there with his friend as he died.
That is what it means to be family. Sometimes, we need to put aside our desire to be “useful” and embrace kindness:
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15)
In the book of Proverbs, we see two examples of the importance of close friendship:
One with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)
Don’t abandon your friend or your father’s friend, and don’t go to your brother’s house in your time of calamity; better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away. (Proverbs 27:10)
Finally, we look to the example in the Book of Job. Job’s friends “knew” what Job’s problem was and set about attempting to “fix” Job rather than be there for him in his suffering.
Trust Wins (or Loses) Wars
Of the three major themes Eve and I picked out of Devotion, the most foundational is trust. After Tom’s first time out as the squadron leader, temporary though it was, his commander commented on that importance: “This war never ends, there’s no v day, there’s no finish line. The real battle in all of life is being someone that people can count on. And that isn’t defined in a single moment. You earn that with a lifetime of showing up.” For the leadership, the most important thing was to bring everyone home.
Our hearts break for Jesse even more. His fellow pilots could implicitly trust the other pilots and the crew. But as a black man in a white man’s job, Jesse just couldn’t. He explained why to Tom:
Jesse: Just because you think you know better doesn’t mean you have to say anything.
Tom: What are you talking about?
Jesse: Carol hadn’t been in the water five seconds before you were talking about what he could’ve done better. We all make mistakes. That could’ve been me, that…don’t let that ring convince you otherwise.
Tom: What’s the one thing they told us about the Corsair? Remind me. What’d they tell us about the Corsair? You can’t punch the throttle. Mistakes get us killed, Jesse.
Jesse: You don’t die if you do what you’re told. The swim test in flight school . . . They made me do it ten times. Didn’t believe that a . . . could swim. They dumped ice in the water. Put weights in my flight suit. Held me under. They wouldn’t have cared if I died in that pool. But every time . . . I made it out.
Got used to flying the bearcat. See everything—the deck on approach. All right in front of me. I could land it on my front yard if I had to. But the Corsair . . . I can’t see anything.
Tom: You have to rely on the LSO.
Jesse: Hard to believe that the LSO won’t crash my black . . . on purpose.
I can’t tell you how many times people have told me to give up, quit. Die, even. That’s why you can’t always do what you’re told. If I did, I wouldn’t be here.
At another point, Jesse tells Tom that when he graduated from flight school, his commander refused to pin his wings on him. Thanks to the relentless bigotry, Jesse could never trust his fellow service members the way that Tom and the rest of the pilots could. Jesse had to fight the darkest parts of man’s fallen nature to achieve what the rest of the pilot nearly took for granted.
Overcoming the poisoning of trust and becoming true wing men for each other: that’s the story of Ensign Jesse Brown and Lt. Tom Hudner. Step by step, we see Lt. Hudner redeem the Navy for Ensign Brown in a tiny way. That redemption allows their relationship to grow.
Side Note: Eve recommends the fascinating book Mig Pilot: The Final Escape of Lt. Belenko while reminding us that “the other guy” is a human being, too. This book is an excellent reminder that socialism isn’t anything it’s made out to be by current generations.
Mini Theme: Imperfect Heroes
An essential part of any storyteller’s job is to make the characters in their story sympathetic. In Devotion, they don’t sugar-coat the foibles of the lead characters. At different parts of the film, you empathize with both, getting a glimpse of their lives. In Devotion, the characters are not only sympathetic, but you genuinely care for them.
Mini Theme: Atheists and Foxholes
Devotion has a couple of places where “spiritual” language works its way into the wartime lexicon. When the marines are pinned down at Chosin by an overwhelming force, one turns to the other and asks, “You know any good prayers?” The other responds, “If you want a prayer, ‘dear god, send us some angels.'” Cue the appearance of the Fighting VF-32.
Another place the movie references angels is the medevac helicopters, called “angels” for their rescue work.
These references drive home an adage and the accompanying scripture:
“There’s no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.”
For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)
Mini Theme: Ensign Brown was MORE
After Jesse died on his last mission, his aircraft carrier’s captain made a shipboard announcement and briefly eulogized Jesse:
Yesterday, we lost a great aviator, Ensign Jesse Brown. His loss is felt all across this ship, and will certainly be felt all across our nation. Our country needed Jesse Brown.
Throughout Devotion, we receive hints at Jesse’s importance to those around him and the country. In one scene, Time Magazine is interviewing Jesse for being the first African American graduate of the Navy Flight School. In a later scene, an African-American enlisted man comes up to Jesse and gifts him a Rolex watch from France that he and his buddies pooled together to buy for Jesse. As he gives it to Jesse, he explains how much Jesse’s accomplishments also encourage them.
In both life and death, Jesse encouraged hundreds–maybe even thousands–of Americans to reach out and achieve their dreams despite the bigotry and evil that oppose them.
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