It also happens to be a very timely movie, having been released only a little over 2 months before Pearl Harbor in 1941. At that time America's foreign policy was still naively isolationist -the rest of the world was at war and we thought it could not affect us. Pearl Harbor would wake us up from that slumber. But Sergeant York had its own part to play as well, exploring the reasons not only for war itself, but how a good man might fight a just and honorable war.
Gary Cooper plays Alvin York, a simple country hillbilly from rural Tennessee. This is a movie that deals with war, but it is not about the war. The movie is about the man. So most of the movie's run time deals with the life and changes of the title character, from his early days as a rough-and-tumble drunkard to his religious conversion to conservative evangelical Christianity. He goes from bar fights to teaching Sunday School. He changes from fighting all who stand in his way to humbly asking forgiveness. He changes from a violent man to a pacifist, who believes that the Bible forbids all forms of violence.
So when the army comes along and drafts him for World War I, Alvin York has a dilemma. How can a man dedicated to the Bible -which teaches, in his understanding, pacifism -go to war to kill for his country? He fights the draft, debates with himself and his superior officers, and finally resolves to trust God and "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
He goes to war, and ends up one of the most highly decorated American soldiers in the conflict. In the midst of a firefight, York single-handedly killed at least 28 German soldiers and captured 132. Let me repeat that, lest we fail to be amazed at the feat: he killed 28 enemies on his own, and captured 132 by himself! It is one of the most remarkable actions in war that I have ever heard of, one that earned York praise and adulation upon his return to America.
Yet Alvin York was not proud of the blood he spilled, nor did he capitalize on it for financial or other gain. He did not revel in taking lives; he killed the enemy not because he hated them, but because he wanted to save the lives of his friends. War, you see, might be necessary at times for justice to reign. Lives might be saved, but only if men are willing to stand and fight for what is right.
America needed these reminders, and many others like them, at the dawn of our involvement in World War 2. But even more we still today need the reminder that war is ultimately not the answer; the ways of God outlined in Scripture make for a much better foundation for a good life than violence.
Entertainment: 7/10
Artistic Value: 8/10
Technical Merit: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
One of my favorite movies. Alvin York was an inspiring man, maybe even more so after the war.
ReplyDelete