The Loneliness of "Lone Survivor"

The Loneliness of "Lone Survivor"

At the Broadcast Film Critics Association 19th Annual Critics Choice Movie Awards last week, Mark Wahlberg, surprising winner of the CCMA’s 2013 award for best Actor in an Action Movie, courageously, patriotically, and humbly thanked the military and the real heroes of ”Lone Survivor” saying, “I wanna thank my wife and my kids for allowing me to pretend to be as important as a soldier fighting in Afghanistan.”

It was a courageous act amid an audience of America-hating, military-hating Hollywood types epitomized recently by Tom Cruise (who stupidly compared the brutality of his extended absence from daughter Suri so he could shoot a movie to soldiers fighting in Afghanistan) and Kanye West (who ignorantly said that being on stage “is like being a police officer, or like war or something” because of his “contributions to society”).

Wahlberg was lucky he wasn’t hounded off the CCMA stage for speaking with such courage, patriotism, and humility, all traits antithetical to Cruise, West, and their fellow multi-millionaire entertainers who regularly badmouth the same military that protects their lives and income despite deadly risks to their own lives.

Also surprising, the Broadcast Film Critics Association awarded “Lone Survivor” the prize for best “Action Movie.”  Both Wahlberg’s and the movie’s awards are especially noteworthy in view of the fact they have been publicly snubbed for recognition by the granddaddy of all award presentations, the Academy Award of Merit, the Oscars. 

The folks at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences typically disregard any film that depicts American bravery or success or victory as unworthy of their consideration.

And, “Lone Survivor” is a perfect example of such a film and Hollywood reacted as it usually does by panning it.  (Think “Act of Valor,” “Zero Dark 30,” “Blackhawk Down,” et al.)

The Golden Globes ignored it altogether while giving Ben Afleck, Emma Thompson, and Jacqueline Bissett plenty of drunken screen time; the Screen Actors Guild praised its stuntmen as if their amazing stunts were performed on a backyard trampoline; the Academy condescended to nominate “Lone” for its “sound editing” and “sound mixing.”

Universal’s movie was roundly criticized by leftists as just another “flyover country,” pro-war film appealing to jingoistic rednecks and militarists obsessed with racist war propaganda.

It was dissed and ridiculed by the likes of Time’s Richard Corliss as a film “pinned down by its military and political dilemma: between gung  ho and F—, no;” by David Edelstein as a celebration of sacrifice that sanctifies agony which is ”crudely written, rife with clichés, [that] leaves out anything that would transform a piece of propaganda into a work of art;” and by Canada’s Katerine Monk as a flick that “kept me on the edge of my seat, but I can’t be sure if it was the result of some buffed and beautiful performances from the brawny cast, or a latent sense of sympathetic jock itch” that requires you to “dab a tear and relieve some manly itch at the same time.”

Putting aside Ms. Monk’s odd familiarity with jockstraps and manly itches, ”Lone Survivor” beat out all the competition after its release with near-record box office receipts of  $38.5 million at North American theaters and now stands as the first smash hit of 2014.

It could be argued that “Lone Survivor” concludes neither successfully nor victoriously . . . (Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=35249.)