Stealth

Starring Josh Lucas as Lt. Ben Gannon, Jessica Biel as Lt. Kara Wade, Jamie Foxx as Lt. Henry Purcell and Sam Shepard as Capt. George Cummings.

The Navy's most elite pilots are Lt. Ben Gannon, Lt. Kara Wade and Lt. Henry Purcell. They also fly the Navy's most advanced fighter jets, called Talons. A little while after these three have established themselves as an efficient killing machine, Captain Cummings adds an Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) named EDI (Extreme Deep Invador) to the team. EDI (pronounced "Eddie") is so advanced that he learn, adapts and reacts to different situations much like a human. After lightning strikes his circuits (go figure) he learns how to be rebellious. Soon after that Ben saves EDI, thereby teaching him camaraderie.

Stealth demonstrates the fact that war utilizes and destroys human life, yet it is inherently inhuman. Humans are used for making war only because they are still smarter and more versatile than any technology that has been invented thus far.

Stealth also reminds me of how successful the U.S. has been at streamlining and objectifying war. During the Revolutionary War, for example, the British tried to preserve their honor and "fight like men" by marching in straight lines toward their colonial adversaries. Americans, on the other hand, used more practical means of fighting, which involved a lot of moving around and shooting from behind whatever cover they could find.

All this to say, war is a terrible waste of human life. War may be inevitable as long as there is evil in the world, but it is a tragedy nonetheless.

We can remember, for encouragement's sake, that God has redeemed war in many ways. For one thing, He calls his people to wage war on a spiritual level. He equips us with His Spirit for the purpose of uprooting and destroying evil.

Every soul is battling to advance either good or evil. Even those who try to avoid one side or the other are unwittingly advancing the cause of darkness and death.

Paul admonished Timothy, saying "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:3). About his own life he said, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:6)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was fascinated to read your article, as it made me think about this film in a form other than that I had originally given it.
What I realised about Stealth is yet another progression of humanity to de-humanise aggression. By allowing these people to fight an enemy from afar, it somehow lessened the "reality" of it. Just because the person pushing the red button and causing untold carnage cannot see the result of their actions, doesn't make it any less destructive.
Stealth's underlying theme for me was mankinds attempt to remove the humanity and confrontational aspects of war, of fighting "evil" and making machines do yet more of our dirty work. No matter how hard we try, God will still judge us for our actions. Machines have no soul, therefore cannot be held accountable.
On a side note: the fact that you could draw an article out of such a nonsensical film is to be applauded. Well done Pat!