On a blustery day in December 2001 when I was home from college on Christmas Break, some high school friends and I decided to do a movie day at the mall. Our film of choice was one that is now rather obscure. It featured Jim Carrey in a dramatic role rather than a comedic one, which in itself is not exactly common. While the film is perhaps just a bit too long to fully accomplish what it sets out to do, it was extremely moving at the time, it being a mere three months or so after September 11.

The Majestic, though written and filmed before the events of September 11, connected on a number of levels to ideas and values that had dominated our lives for the past three months—freedom, war, sacrifice, death, and love for one’s country. It took me and my old ’89 clunker 45 minutes to exit the mall parking lot after my first viewing of the movie, and the snow was coming down so fast I could hardly see. But I didn’t really care too much. There was just something in the simple, hopeful message of the film that lifted my spirits, at least for the moment. Plus, The Majestic introduced me to this week’s Best Picture winner, The Life of Emile Zola (Don’t worry, I didn’t forget which film this post is dedicated to!).

Without giving too much away about the plot of The Majestic (because you really should dig it up out of the $3 bin and enjoy it), let me share a couple of pertinent scenes in connection with this week’s BP. The first mention of The Life of Emile Zola in The Majestic occurs during the gorgeous lighthouse scene in which Adele and Peter (who has amnesia and has come to believe he is Luke, Adele’s fiancé who has been MIA from WWII for years) discuss how The Majestic, the old theater run by Luke and his father, inspired her to pursue becoming a lawyer. Adele explains the connection: “Well, we used to go to the movies all the time when I was a kid. And once when I was eleven, the movie playing that week was The Life of Emile Zola…In the movie when Zola stood up in court and he accused the French government of forfeiting its honor for wrongly accusing an innocent man? Well, Zola wasn’t a lawyer, of course, but the way he spoke—uh! Uh! I decided right then and there that, that that’s what I wanted to do when I grew up.” To Peter’s doubtful “Just from that?”, Adele replies, “Just! Oh come on, it was great!” Then they proceed to quote from The Life of Emile Zola:

Adele: “In the presence of this tribunal, which is the representative of human justice, before you, gentlemen of the jury, before France, before the whole world, I swear Dreyfus is innocent. By all that I’ve won, by all that I’ve witnessed to spread the spirit of France, I swear that Dreyfus is innocent.”

Peter: “May all that melt away, may my name perish, if Dreyfus not be innocent.”

Adele: “He is innocent.” It’s pretty good stuff, huh?

Peter: Not bad at all.

In its quiet power, The Majestic echoes The Life of Emile Zola, not only by referencing and quoting it, but also by portraying the risks and courage involved in standing up for a cause one believes is right. Though both films get a bit fiery in their parallel concluding court scenes, overall they focus on the oftentimes silent conflict within their protagonists, as well as the more dynamic conflict between the protagonists and those who oppose them when they choose to stand up for what they believe. What is also fascinating with these movies is how, through their stands for freedom, they bridge gaps in history and cultures to identify ideals and causes that transcend time. As we discussed in the Weekday Warm-up earlier this week, The Life of Emile Zola links the time of its setting, the late 1800s/early 1900s, to the time of the movie’s release, the 1930s, emphasizing the continuation of social and racial injustice and the need to speak out for those who lack the power to defend themselves. The Majestic likewise links different times and events, using The Life of Emile Zola, the Sullivan Ballou letter from the Civil War, Luke’s experiences in WWII, and the film’s setting during the Red Scare of the 1950s to reach into the present time of its release a few months after September 11 to remind its viewers of the power of willingly suffering to advance the cause of right, as well as the vital need for individuals to stand up for the right and for the preservation of the freedoms we hold dear.

(Spoiler alert!) After Peter realizes he is not Luke and must turn himself over to the Congressional committee that is examining accused Communists, he faces the dilemma of speaking out against the injustice of the accusations against him or reading the false statement the committee wants to hear in order to avoid going to jail. This predicament gives rise to the second scene in The Majestic that contains a reference to Émile Zola. The dialogue in this scene is also worth quoting in full:

Adele: So, are you really a Communist?

Peter: No, I’m really not.

Adele: I didn’t think so…So what are you gonna tell the committee?

Peter: Tell ‘em what they wanna hear: “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Blah, blah, blah.”

Adele: You’re not serious.

Peter: What’s wrong with it?

Adele: Everything.

Peter: Can we be more specific?

Adele: Well, aside from the fact that this is a free country and you can be a Communist if you wanna be a Communist, leaving that aside, if someone accuses you falsely, you have a duty as well as the right to, to stand up and suggest they drop dead. Specific enough?

Peter: Ok, Émile Zola. I can see you feel strongly about this…But that doesn’t make the game any less rigged. There’s a reason they call it a witch hunt.

Adele: And there’s such a thing as burden of proof, innocence before guilt.

Peter: Maybe in law school, but the rest of us have to live in the real world. And in the real world, I mess with these guys, I go to jail.

Adele: All the more reason to fight them…

Peter: I’m not Luke…He couldn’t wait to save the world. Me? I was happy not to go overseas.

Adele: Why?

Peter: Because I didn’t wanna end up like him. I wanted to survive. You stand up for a cause, you get mowed down…That’s the real world.

Just as Peter is fearful and reluctant to challenge the establishment, so also is Zola reticent about involving himself in the Dreyfus Affair in The Life of Emile Zola. Believing he has accomplished his goal in life of writing works that direct people’s attention to social injustices, Zola is ready for a retirement of sorts. He wants to enjoy the wealth and comfort his literary success—though controversial—has brought him. However, nagged by the realization that the truth is being suppressed and no one else is in the position to do anything about it, Zola deliberately risks everything to speak the truth and defend an innocent man. His words, quoted by Adele and Peter, are blatantly in opposition to the court’s mandate that the Dreyfus Affair not be mentioned, yet Zola must speak on, challenging his countrymen to stop turning a blind eye and deaf ear to injustice—for the betterment of the nation and their own personal integrity.

As Adele says, that’s “pretty good stuff, huh?”

For Me Then…

I am a total sucker for films in which the protagonist must take a stand for what is right in the face of insurmountable odds. Whether it’s Braveheart, Gladiator, The Lord of the Rings—or The Majestic and The Life of Emile Zola—there is just something so ennobling, so inspiring, about this type of film. I think what really gets to me when watching these movies is the easy application to my own life and our own society of the concept of choosing to stand up for justice when it is fairly obvious that the result of advocating the right cause will be something negative. How many times in our own lives are we faced with the dilemma of choosing between listening to our consciences or avoiding persecution for advocating what is right? Yet, how can we ignore doing what is right and opt instead for a life of meaningless ease, not burdened by values or worries about getting involved in controversies?

There are obvious connections we can make between these films of selfless courage and our own times. One notable one is in reference to the Sullivan Ballou letter upon which Luke’s letter to Adele is based in The Majestic. Sullivan Ballou, a soldier of the Civil War, gave his life for the cause he believed in (If you have not read this letter, you should. You can find the full text here: http://www.civil-war.net/pages/sullivan_ballou.asp.). Before he was killed, though, Ballou penned a letter to his wife Sarah, explaining to her that he was not afraid to die because he so strongly believed in what he was fighting for. Luke, in nearly the same words in The Majestic, explains to Adele that he may not return home from WWII, but that she should not mourn him because his death will not be in vain; instead, he will willingly lay down his life for the cause he believes in fighting for. Luke writes, “When bullies rise up, the rest of us have to beat them back down, whatever the cost. That’s a simple idea, I suppose, but one worth giving everything for.” Gorgeous…and applicable.

The Sullivan Ballou letter was read in part at President Trump’s inauguration this past January by Chuck Schumer, who is, incidentally, a Democrat. I confess, hearing it, in that context especially, made me emotional. Like Peter and like Zola, Ballou fights for a cause larger than himself, all the while knowing that the odds are pretty good that he will not survive to see the fight through. Nevertheless, he feels peace in the fact that he has chosen to take the side of righteousness and to give everything he can to advance the cause of freedom and justice. There are so many causes for which we can take up the fight today. And, the freedoms emphasized as worthy of being fought for in The Life of Emile Zola and The Majestic are those for which we should continue to engage in battle daily. For me, then, this week’s BP serves as a wake-up call.