A World Bereft of Tender Masculine Strength

Sicari, a current movie about war against a Mexican drug lord, is nauseatingly violent, but remarkable for performances by Emily Blunt and Benecio Del Toro and for what it says about our culture: a world bereft of tender, masculine strength. The opening sequence establishes the Blunt character as a competent, tough, courageous FBI operative; as a leader of men in a men’s world; as a person of impeccable integrity. One marvels that we now live in a world where a woman, and a petite and lean one at that, can more than hold her own in an arena of brutal combat. Perhaps another Katniss(Hunger Games)? Not at all! She is recruited into an undercover, illegal, black-ops led by a dark, brutal, sadistic Machiavellian assassin, devoid of moral scruples, principles or sympathy (scary performance by Del Toro!). He works nicely with the lead intelligence agent, (a convincing Josh Brolin) who is equally cynical and manipulative if garrulous and superficially charming. Our protagonist’s intelligence, courage and good will are entirely overwhelmed … from beginning to end … by the relentless, unrestrained, destructive machismo aimed at the violent drug cartel. In this world chaotic, invincible macho violence prevails and our feminine hero is rendered powerless. In several scenes she is brutally attacked and almost killed by the muscular, ruthless male antagonist. In this world there is no tender, restrained masculine strength to counter the testosterone-fueled empire of evil. Her colleague, a black man, is an intelligent, principled and competent agent like herself but he is equally powerless against the Big Dogs. An endearing Mexican father, shown playing soccer with his son, senselessly becomes a victim as he cooperates with the cartel. This is the opposite of the you-go-girl, feminist movies like Hunger Games or Divergent! In this world intelligent, tough, courageous femininity is completely dominated and violated by male violence. This is a frightening reflection of the world in which we live! We lack father figures: strong, confident, reassuring men who can face evil and prevail against it; men who are capable of protecting women and children; men who are strong and good at the same time. Our current President is emblematic: he is well-intended but impotent in the face of ISIS, of the chaos in Syria. Rather than reassuring us about terrorist immigrating as refugees, he ridicules the fears. Instead of protecting women and innocent unborn children, he champions abortion and forces the Little Sister of the Poor to pay for that despicable, toxic, and sinful abomination called contra-ception! A genuine “Anti-Father” (in his public positions, NOT his private life which is praiseworthy!) he represents the flight from paternity in his fierce, uncompromising war against the meaning of sex and gender as generativity, fruitfulness, chastity and loyalty. The fundamental evil of our time is a crisis in masculinity: a failure of men to be strong and yet good, to be humble and chaste, to be real fathers. The women are fine: there is about femininity an irrepressible, infallible and efficacious goodness. They cannot help themselves as they are instinctively and unreflectively compassionate and generous. We men are not so: to become strong, tender men we need a long and arduous itinerary of formation; we need to be coached, encouraged, challenged and rebuked. And we need to open ourselves, in our weakness (cowardice, lust, anger, selfishness, etc.) to the strengthening of the Holy Spirit! In this year of Mercy, let us all pray: “Let your Mercy be upon us as we place our trust in you! Strengthen us by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit! Strengthen us, Lord Jesus, with your own strength, with you beautiful, sweet, gentle strength!”