Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius July 2, 2017 Spiritual Ponderings Faith & Film: Captain America: Civil War
Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham in their book: The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning has the following to say about storytelling: “For once upon a time, people told stories. In the midst of sorrow, and in the presence of joy, both mourners and celebrants told stories. But especially in times of trouble, when “a miracle” was needed and the limits of human ability were reached, people turned to storytelling as a way of exploring the fundamental mysteries: Who are we? How are we to live?” In keeping with my tradition and acknowledging the power of a story, I will share with you some spiritual reflection on different movies.
Captain America Civil War Most superhero movies follow the basic format of one or two heroes going up against the villain of the day and it is normally very easy to know who to root for. This movie is different in that it pins two teams of super heroes against each other. The first team is led by Iron Man (A.K.A Tony Stark) and they believe that the team of super heroes need to have a govern body to hold them accountable. Iron Man strongly feels this way because he feels guilty for all the destruction the Avengers caused when fighting Ultron in their last movie. The second team is led by Captain America (A.K.A. Steve Rodgers) and they feel that no good can come out of having to report to any group. Captain America strongly feels this way because he had been betrayed by S.H.I.E.L.D. (which was infiltrated and taken over by an evil organization named H.Y.D.R.A.). Steve also has a strong desire to rescue his childhood friend who had been turned into an evil assassin by H.Y.D.R.A. and he knows that no over sight committee would permit him. Other superheroes are then forced to choose sides depending upon personal beliefs and loyalties and this leads to a climactic battle at an airport when Captain America’s team tries to stop a third evil threat that the other heroes do not know about.
Spiritual Insight #1: Know your full motivation Both Iron Man and Captain America have good reasons for their beliefs. The movie left me believing though that neither of the two knew their deepest reason for their beliefs. I never see Iron Man full come to grips with the guilt he feels for creating Ultron and the countless death’s that he caused. Captain America’s loyalty to his childhood friend also seems to motivate Captain America’s thinking more than he would care. I wonder if the major conflict could have been avoided if they had done a little more soul searching of their motivation.
Spiritual Insight #2: Vengeance is Never Any Good T’Challa (the Black Panther) seeks vengeance upon the Winter Soldier because he believed the Winter Soldier had assassinated his father. There are a couple of times in which he almost succeeds but in the end, he is lucky and fails because the Winter Soldier had been framed and instead it was Helmut Zemo who was responsible for killing T’Challa’s father. T’Challa shows that he has learned his lesson and stops Helmut Zemo from committing suicide at the end and instead turns him over the authority.
Tony Stark loses all control also when he realizes that the Winter Soldier (while under mind control) was the one who killed his father. Tony ends up taking his anger out on Captain America and almost kills him. Ultimately Iron Man is left alone and without any friends at the end of the movie because his anger has driven everyone away.
Spiritual insight #3: Know Your Enemy Saint Ignatius of Loyola speaks of three enemies of the spiritual life: our sinful nature, the world, and finally the devil. We sometimes are own worst enemy because we can talk ourselves into doing things our way instead of God’s way. The world tries to instill in us values that are not Christian. Finally, the devil desires to see us miserable like he is miserable. If we are not aware of how these enemies are affecting us, we can allow them to manipulate us in ways that lead us away from the good. The Avengers spend most of the movie not knowing that Helmut Zemo has declared himself their enemy and has manipulated them into their current conflict.