Go see Devotion in theaters! You will consider it time well spent and will not regret the $7-$15 price of a ticket.
I do not usually do movie reviews, but since I have written a blogpost about Adam Makos’ book, I have decided to give my thoughts on J. D. Dillard’s adaption. Who knows, I might reread The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and The River of Doubt by Candice Millard and do reviews of their Netflix and HBO Max adaptions, respectfully. I probably will not do a review of The Good Lord Bird which is both based on a novel and more of a satire than a serious look at John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, on which I have also done an episode.
Devotion is probably one of the greatest movies I have seen in theaters in a long time. In an era where the majority of films seem to be either a low budget tutorial in camera placement or bloated superhero and action films that throw everything at the wall to see what will stick, quick editing and fancy CGI distracting from poor storytelling, the directing of J. D. Dillard and the cinematography of Erik Messerschmidt stands out as pure cinema. The camera work is stunningly beautiful and breathtaking. The shots of the aircraft in flight are gorgeous. While a lot of current movies start off with an establishing shot and then introduce us to the main character before thrusting us right into the story, Devotion’s opening montage of the aircraft sets the mood and takes the audience on an emotional journey into the lives of the characters. It was both something new and different, harkening back to the films of the eighties and 90s. Instead of conversations between characters being a series of over-the-shoulder shots, medium shots and close-up shots, J. D. Dillard gives the actors time to establish their presence, carrying the scene with their acting and bouncing off each other. Every camera angle, shot, insert shot, and edit has a purpose in telling the story and creating emotion.
That’s the kind of filmmaking we need more of these days.
I feel like the film and theater industry is at a crossroads like the one they faced in the 1950s. In response to the competition from television, studios invested in CinemaScope, Panavision, and other aspect ratios that could not be appreciated on small screens. They used this technology to tell stories with lavish, epic productions. Some of these films have stood the test of time, like Ben-Hur. Others, like Around The World In 80 Days, have not. Some, like Cleopatra, were bombs in their own time. We saw something similar with the advent of GCI and computer animation and the success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. All the studios were trying to remake and retail classics and epics with over-the-top CGI and leave them open-ended for trilogies. Some were successful. Others were not, partly due to an audience tired of remakes, reboots, and sequels. In the past decade, studios have tried to copy the success of Marvel with their own cinematic universes. Yeah, those did not go well. Now in the past few years with the competition from a dozen streaming services with cinematic-worthy content, it seems like studios are investing in filmmakers who are telling stories with fancy editing, camera work, non-linear structures, aspect ratios, and sound design that can only truly be appreciated on the big screen. Sometimes the art is stunning, but the stories are lackluster or boring.
Therefore, I suggest everyone go see Devotion. It is an interesting story told with beautiful art. It is also not an over-the-top GCI remake, reboot, sequel, prequel, or franchise that everyone is always complaining about there being too many of.
One problem I did have with the film was the pacing. I have seen some reviews say that it seemed like a series of scenes strung together. If you’re expecting a film that follows the three-act structure from a screenwriting book or an action film in which all the story beats are hit at certain time marks, I could see your point. I agree that the scene of the sailors and aviators hanging out in Cannes could probably be cut by about ten minutes. I did remember during one dialogue scene wondering how long the film was, but I never checked my watch as I’ve done with other films, including superhero movies. But the film was not just a series of scenes strung together. Watch films like the original Red Dawn, Driving Miss Daisey, The Last Emperor, and Tender Mercies or survival films like The Pianist or 12 Years A Slave and you will see that there are themes, character arcs, and relationship development occurring within the seemingly random scenes. The film is a visual medium in which the story is told through actions, not dialogue delivered before a camera. It takes time for the development of Jesse and Tom’s friendship to be told visually. That’s why, other than the time spent in Cannes, I don’t have an issue with the pacing in Devotion.
The problems I did have with Devotion stem more from choices that the director and writers made with the adaption of Makos’ book. I’m not saying that they’re bad directors or writers. I’m just saying that I would have done things differently if I had written the screenplay the adaption of Makos’ book. It’s preferring the Dutch Masters and Norman Rockwell over Claude Monte and Vincent van Gogh. Monte and van Goth are not bad, I just prefer Rockwell and Vermeer.
So, if you have not seen Devotion yet, read no further, because SPOILERS.
I’ll give you time to go.
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Are you gone yet?
Hey, you there, in Alexandria, Louisiana, who has not seen the film yet. Get out of here.
Are you gone?
Good.
As I said, the choices that Dillard and the writers Jonathan Stewart and Jake Crane made were not bad, I just would have made other ones. For example, I would have included the funeral flight in which Jesse was given a Viking funeral as a pilot recited the Lord’s Prayer. However, Dillard decided to have Tom stand on the empty flight deck alone, by himself as the planes in the funeral flight take off. It is a powerful scene representing loss and mourning.
- Jesse’s childhood
I would have included a few conversations, if not a flashback, to Jesse’s childhood. There’s a scene in Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn where Dieter Dengler (played by Christian Bale) tells Duane Martin (played by Steve Zahn) that he was inspired to become a pilot after looking face-to-face with an American pilot who was bombing his German village during World War II. “A guy tries to kill you,” says Martin. “And you want to take his job.” There could have been a similar scene between Jesse and Tom when Jesse says he was inspired to fly after a white pilot flew his plane over the field he was picking cotton in and almost hit him. Tom could have commented on Martin’s response to Dengler. That conversation could have further cemented Tom and Jesse’s friendship as Tom comes to what understanding Jesse has had to overcome. Instead, we only get a scene where Jesse says he wanted to fly because he was told he could not be a pilot.
Then there is the case of Jesse screaming at himself in the mirror. When he was a boy, he struck back at some white kids after being called the N-word. His mother told him that when someone called him nasty things it said more about their character than him. So as a boy, he started yelling the n-word at himself in the mirror to toughen himself up. There could have been a scene in which Jesse explains that to Tom. This could have further cemented Jesse and Tom’s relationship as Tom grows to respect Jesse as a strong-minded individual. Instead, we get a scene of Jesse telling Tom that he keeps a book of everything nasty thing he has been called or told written down. It makes Jesse look more like a victim rather than the tough-minded individual that he was made out to be in Adam Makos’ book.
- The Racist Marine
In the film, there is a Marine on the Carrier Leyte who is overtly racist toward Jesse. We later see this Marine fighting on the ground around The Chosin Reservoir and being relieved by the firepower provided by Jesse. Then after Tom has failed to save Jesse, he is walking through the Marine camp and sees “The racist” and exchanges a glare/awarded look at him.
I see what J. D. Dillard did there. And he did it beautifully.
But it is not what I would have done had I written the screenplay.
During a Life Magazine interview, which I believe took place during the Battle of the Chosin, Jesse said he had not experienced any racism on the Carrier Leyte. I find it strange in a time of lifting black voices and rhetoric that suggests that denying one’s professed experience is akin to denying their existence that the writers decide not to take Jesse’s word on the issue and add the token racist character. Furthermore, the iconic photo of Jesse the reporters were shown taking of him while the Leyte was in the Mediterranean Sea was really taken of him off the coast of Korea. His look is not one of the annoyance of being interviewed because of his skin, but one contemplating the fate of his fellow Americans fighting and dying on the ground whom he cannot help due to cloud cover. The writers could have put the scene off the coast of Korea and still contained Jesse’s annoyance. “Excuse me, gentlemen,” he says abruptly. “Fellow Americans are dying, and you want to talk about the color of my skin?”
The racist Marine trope not only took up time but denied the audience a chance to see Jesse’s lighter side. Instead of overt acts of racism, the Marine could have been seen off to the side, looking with annoyance that Jesse is getting all the attention. Then when Elizabeth Taylor invites Jesse to the gambling table and he takes the Marine’s seat, a confrontation could have occurred. Not only would it have made the racist Marine more than a caricature, but the confrontation could also have been interrupted by the news of The Korean War.
Jesse’s hardcase confrontations with the token racist Marine denied the audience a look at his lighter side. In his book, Adam Makos writes that on the Leyte there was an awkward moment when a crewmate encouraged everyone to “hurry up so we can lie in the sun and get as black as…” Everyone looked as Jesse turned around from his bunk. He just smiled and told them to go ahead. “Besides, I’ve got a head start on my color!”
I understand the writers were probably trying to avoid the go-lucky, “big grinning negro” stereotype, which is commendable. However, Jonathan Majors has more than enough talent to show a lighter, happier side without being a stereotype. We see this in the scene where he encounters Alabama Ward.” The inclusion of the racist Marine was at the exclusion of Jesse’s three-dimensional character which included a lighter side.
- Two Missions, Two Character Arcs
I would have liked to have seen more aerial missions over North Korea that would have fully developed Jesse and Tom’s characters and arcs.
One incident that speaks volumes about Jesse’s character is his daring. The grunts on the ground played a game of guessing which pilots were bachelors and which were married based on how low and reckless they flew in their fire support missions. They guessed that the black pilot must have been a bachelor. It could have only been Jesse.
Then there could have been a mission where the Communists are using a school filled with young children as a human shield near Jesse’s target. Jesse’s fatherly instincts kick in and he reins in his maverick behavior. He flies by the book and hits the target, missing the school. All the other pilots are cheering him on for his talent and skill, but Jesse takes one last lap to look down at the school kids and wave at them.
Tom’s rule-following nature would be reinforced and Jesse’s maverick’s character enforced over rules regarding downed pilots. A supporting character named Roland Batson belly lands in a North Korean cornfield. The pilots see Batson waving at them, but Tom says they cannot coordinate a rescue attempt and it is too late in the day for a helicopter. Baston is never found. Some of the pilots grumble about his loss and complain that their commander, Dick Cevoli, has not recommended anyone for medals. At the beginning of a briefing, Tom says he has no use for medals, then reviews the procedure regarding downed pilots.
When a pilot asks if another pilot could land and pick up a downed pilot, Dick Cevoli, whose brother is MIA from World War II, says that if they saw a downed pilot…
“Even if he’s waving up from a field of clover – you leave him there! It’s bad enough to lose one pilot. We can’t lose two. And if any of you try to land and pick someone up, I’ll court-martial your ass.”
Tom hears the skipper’s warning and so does Jesse: A downed pilot was to be left where he was.
This would have made Tom’s character arc and decision to disobey the rules and land to save Jesse all the more powerful.
- Daisy’s Healing
I would have had a scene at the beginning in which Jesse’s daughter is in the front yard or on the beach as his plane flies by. She looks up, smiles, weaves, and yells “Daddy!” Then toward the end after Daisy receives news of Jesse’s death, their daughter is in the front yard or on the beach. A plane flies by. She looks up, smiles, weaves, and yells, “Daddy!” Daisy tries not to cry.
Then when Daisy is heading toward Washington, D. C. on the airplane, instead of having the overdone trope of a white man looking over in part bewilderment, part disdain at a black female sharing the airspace with him, have two passengers behind her reading the newspaper. “Too bad about that Negro naval aviator burning up over in Korea,” says one of the passengers. Daisy tries not to cry.
This way at the Medal of Honor ceremony when Tom approaches Daisy and tells her Jesse’s last words – “Just tell Daisy how much I love her” – she has a moment of healing. She had thought he had burned to death alone by himself. Now she could take comfort in knowing that he did not die alone, but in the company of friends.
In Conclusion
I would have cut the racist Marine trope and some of the time spent in Cannes and spent more of the second hour on flight missions over North Korea and maybe even made the rescue attempt of Jesse five or ten minutes longer, including the other members of the squad circling the crash site and waving goodbye.
But that does not diminish the fact that Devotion is an excellent film. Like Jesse L. Brown, this country needs this movie. The editing, lighting, original score, coloring, cinematography, and acting are all fantastic. J. D. Dillard did a great job at the wheel, and I look forward to his work in the future.
I hope Devotion becomes a sleeper hit so we can see more movies about the Korean War in the future. Forgive the sick plug, but here are some ideas for screenplays I would like to write to honor those who served in the Korean War, including two of my uncles.
