My wife no longer trusts me because I usually select a war movie and then plead that the film contains such a compelling storyline, that she’ll soon forget about the blood and guts and guns and bombs and tanks and fighter planes. But I don’t think she’s bought into my feeble rationale. Let’s face it, there are just some movies that men will like more than women and vice versa. With Father’s Day on the near horizon, it seems a good time to recommend two such movies that Christian dads might enjoy, so, I will examine two—one a recent release on DVD and another that has been out for a few years. Both films are based on true historical events.
Defiance
Defiance was released to home video earlier this month. It is the story of two Jewish brothers—Tuvia Bielski (played by Daniel Craig) and Zus Bielski (Liev Schreiber)—in German-occupied Poland during World War II who escaped into the forests in the face of Hitler’s SS. Under the leadership of Tuvia and a few other men, more than 1,200 Jewish citizens eventually come to live and survive in the forest—braving raids by Hitler’s death squads, the cruel winter elements and the Gen. 3 fracturing of relationships that causes periodical fights among community members. The brothers Tuvia demonstrate incredible bravery in the face of unspeakably evil tyranny and show what it means for men to serve in their God-ordained roles as the protector, provider and leader of women and children. The move is rated R for some language and war violence—though this rating may not be justified as it seems to fit better in the PG range.
To End All Wars
Released to DVD five years ago, this is one of my all-time favorite war movies and is perhaps one of the most gripping films I have seen. This is particularly true because the Gospel rings crystal clear in a true story of redemptive, Christ-like suffering in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. Members of the 93rd regiment of the Scottish Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders are captured and herded into a camp where conditions were squalid and the punishment brutal and endless. Once there, they are forced to build the Burma railway, while living on meager, insect-infested rations.
The storyline focuses primarily on two soldiers, Ernest Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin) and his superior officer Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle). Gordon recovers from an illness that has him on his death bed and then agrees to teach a number of his captives Plato, Shakespeare and the Bible. God’s Word is particularly prominent within the teaching. As this group of soldiers begin to learn, and particularly as they catch a glimpse of Christ from Scripture, their attitudes toward their captors and their work ethic in the camp is transformed, eventually catching the notice of their captors. Meanwhile, Campbell, who sneers at Gordon’s educational efforts, leads a smaller band of soldiers in planning to murder guards and escape from the camp. They both the escape and four would-be escapees are shot execution-style in front of the entire camp. Campbell is saved when another soldier demands to be killed in his place. Because the soldier is a follower of Christ, the Japanese crucify him on a cross before the entire watching camp and Campbell is set free. The good news of substitutionary atonement could not ring more clearly. This movie is a deeply compelling illustration of the Gospel and its ethic as expressed in Matt. 5:43-44 (“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”) and Rom. 12:17-21(“Repay no one evil for evil…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
The movie is rated R because it depicts in chilling detail the brutality and evil of the human heart that was openly on display in so many corners of the world during WWII. But it is this awful darkness that so starkly illumines the awesome power of the Gospel in the second half of the movie. If you have not seen this movie, go immediately and rent or buy it. If you are a reader, you may want to pick up the autobiography of Ernest Gordon—who after the war served as dean of the chapel at Princeton University—titled, Through the Valley of the Kwai.