Captain America and Trust Issues?

My kids and I don’t often go to see movies but this was the second in two weeks and will be our last for awhile.  It wasn’t that Noah was bad, though it sure stirred a lot of controversy in our family, or that Captain America wasn’t thrilling, though it too stirred some serious thoughts, but in both cases I found myself struggling against a momentous sense that humanity is terribly afraid.

The comics aren’t what they used to be, and as the preview of Sleeping Beauty showed, even fairy tales aren’t for little children anymore.  Everything is imbued with heavy realism, even when that “realism” includes people jumping out of planes and landing on their feet, and witches being portrayed as troubled souls. Captain America was incredibly well acted – they get us to believe the most impossible things and that’s no small feat. And the startling, fast action sequences and techno-toys, (car chases, wrecks of every kind, computer wizardry) leave you rather breathless, wondering who in the world will survive this most recent version of Armageddon.  The moral themes in the story were also very good: though you may find yourself surrounded by traitors, there is always someone you can trust, that security at all costs can cost you everything you wanted to secure, and that loving someone, really loving them, can even mean getting beat up by them.  I am sure there were others.

So I was somewhat surprised when one of my daughters said that she found the movie depressing.  ”Why?”  “Well, because no one can really do all those things and they aren’t real to me – I can’t be that kind of hero.”  I get it.  My kids watched as their dad fell to cancer (and it’s various complications) that had been hounding him for years.  They watched him face huge obstacles, struggling to do the simplest things, yet managed to smile and make the best of each day and inspire those around him.  As he came closer and closer to death I saw my husband change from an ordinary guy to a hero who learned to trust, love and endure on a courageous level.  In his youth he loved the very stories that Marvel has brought into the 21st century and I am sure he would have enjoyed Captain America for the same reason he always loved hero stories – He loved to see people overcome obstacles (especially impossible ones).  He loved it when people became better than they were.  He lived that message.  It is one we all need.

So as I reflected on my daughter’s disconnect with the movie, I still felt glad that the movie said what it did – the message was good. I see the specters the world fears – the various end-of-the-world scenarios that are being played out on big screens everywhere because ruthless men, wizards or aliens, or a mysterious virus, or whatever, may get us.  But The End is real - and it scares us and we want to do something to save ourselves and the world…at least what is good in the world. (Like Frodo and Sam, like Noah, like Captain America, Batman and many others) but we need to remember…the end will come – our end, the world’s end.

How will we face that end?  With hope or despair?  With faith in something beyond our sight or with damming doom?  A man can become a hero, but it takes the grace of God to do it.  He may never jump out of a building and land on his feet, take down ruthless killers, or build an arc to save the remnant, but he may love through suffering, become strong in weakness and face death with courage.  Now there’s a hero I can follow.