My father was a big fan of war movies. It wasn’t the violence but rather the drama and the heroic male figures that he liked. He was a child of the Mexican toxic masculinity culture of Machismo. So, if the war movie was about the Mexican revolution or it had John Wayne or Charles Bronson type actors, so much the better. I’ve always thought these movies unrealistic at least to the extent that they don’t depict or address the lives that most of us live. Life isn’t about taking the next hill or repelling the enemy. Real life is about going to work, replacing lightbulbs, doing laundry, rearing children, planning dinner and making soup.
Susan and I watched the movie Devotion, streaming on Paramount+, last night. It was a nice, uncomplicated story. It didn’t have up-close, gratuitous violence. There was heroism, but not of the John Wayne sort. Rather, it was everyday heroism of the kind that parents, and service members show every day. It showed manliness of the kind that male friends show one another and their families.
I woke up today thinking about these things, and I told Susan that I thought the movie was quite good and gave us a take on real life – its prosaic aspects. She agreed that it was a slice of life type movie. Real life isn’t about slaying dragons, defeating the empire, or making the next revolutionary discovery.
For most of us, real life is about making soup.