Lent Post: "The Great Escape"

Salvete.

So I was watching The Great Escape with family and friends today, and it got me thinking about society and resisting authority. Granted, this isn't an isolated topic at all in film; we've seen people "resist authority" in Avatar, Dances with Wolves, In Time, Johnny Tremain, and the upcoming (and exciting) new Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy. There's an astute difference between these, though.

In most of the movies that I've just described, the character is a minion, an underling in a mighty empire. He imagines that the enemy is evil, and he does his best to destroy them. Just when they're about to be vanquished, he listens to their point of view. In a complete role reversal, he now sees the "enemy" as the good guys and the "heroes" as the bad guys. Eventually, the underdogs win, and the mighty get thrashed. The end.

It is literally impossible to get a good, holistic view of what the character is fighting for in just a few interactions. You can only understand the surface, the face value of your newfound friends, and surely you can't base your opinion solely on that. When the world watched Congressman Issa shut off the microphone of Congressman Cummings, the face value was horrid, even though the action was legitimate and perhaps even necessary. These characters are not fighting for a cause. They are resisting for the sake of resistance. This is, simply put, dangerous.

The Great Escape is different. You don't see people resisting for the heck of it. In one of the first scenes, a British prisoner says to the face of a higher-ranked German officer that it is the duty of the prisoners to do what they could to slow the Germans down. They have a cause. They know what they are doing, they know how and why they are doing it, and they will resist as civilly as possible. They are Martin Luther Kings. They resist because they must, not because they want to or get a buzz off of being an underdog.

When people do this, protest is more respectful, more loyal to the authorities than the most sincere groveling. You tell the leadership that you are not anti-establishment, not an illogical radical, but a sincere, honest patriot who's concerned about the future and has a few ideas for the nation. Oh, and one will fight for his beliefs even if it means death. That's what happened to the British prisoners in The Great Escape. That's what happed to the Alamo, Bunker Hill, Thermopylae. That's also the reason why the French Revolution failed and the American Revolution succeeded. For France, revolution meant giving the rich, the church, and the monarchy what they had coming. It was based on revenge and on pure resistance. Thus, society was thrown into chaos, with neither direction nor purpose. It took the mighty fist of an emperor to restore order to France. The Americans, though, had centuries of contemplation, even before America existed. They thought about it, both the rich and the poor, North and South, knew what they needed to do, and, hand in hand, they petitioned the king. They didn't start the rebellion because they hated Great Britain, they were thrown into it because they wouldn't let go of their beliefs. I believe the right has this sentiment in spades, but the left needs to work on its purpose before it continues its ungodly, spiteful protests.

My advice for revolutionaries: if you resist for power or to get high on being a radical, just stop. This is not telling you not to defend your beliefs; defend them to your death. Just don't attack our beliefs or way of life for kicks. If you are serious about revolution and have strong beliefs, consider your motives. Then reconsider them. Pray about them constantly. If you don't see anything that directly points to grounds for revolution, don't revolt. If you do, then put your soul into it. You will be giving the authorities more honor and respect than the peons ever could.