THE 15:17 TO PARIS.... packed with patriotism and hope

It's becoming more and more frequent that we get to see stories about real heroes trying to save the day when they are just ordinary people that happened to be in the wrong place at the right moment to be able to hep others and do something greater than them. But the fact that we all are heroes of own in everyone's life and we all struggle to survive these days where mas shootings happen around the corner, at schools, malls, music venues and public transportation, that starts to feel old the fact of dedicating a whole movie to tell the story of just a few when we are leaving out so many others that, as said, are risking their lives on a daily basis. But maybe is the fact that a big country as USA, facing the fact of not being involve in a war anymore, lacking of stories and examples of war heroes to inspire their citizens, or the other fact that inside the country they are living a political climate that has divided the nation, triggering several movements from different positions that has the entire nation facing violence and feeling unsafe at home that those examples of random people being able to inspire the whole country, uplifting their hope for  a better good is very needed as part of good news among a cascade of horrible daily news. Considering this, made it feel at the beginning like a deep breath of fresh air when we got to hear and see those stories of ordinary people, the ones that could be our neighbors, co workers, friends, being able to save the day in a selfless act that will pass to history as an heroic thing, bringing some hope and courage to the rest of us to make it through and believe that everything will be ok, but will it really be ok?  And what about all the other stories that didn't get a big attention from the media but it happened, and sometimes with a major impact just in  different scale? If we are living in difficult times, and more and more people can be called heroes in based of their actions, what makes a story more worthy to be told than the other?

This is the exact feeling anyone will experience after seeing "The 15:17 to Paris" (2018), a movie based on a true story, again, based and built in one act that takes only about 10 minutes of the whole movie but is teased since the beginning with short glimpses, building the anticipation for the audience to stay until the end and witness what really happened in a train when a terrorist shows up with enough ammunition to kill everybody on that train. But who is this guy, what are the motives to his actions, why that train, what was the purpose of this horrible act, we'd never know. Instead we focus for the rest of the length in the life of the three young Americans that saved the day and with bravery stopped this guy from commit a violent act that could kill hundreds and instead just left a couple injured. And of course we are curious to see and get to know this guys, to understand them better before they got to that moment in their lives where with just seconds to plan and execute were able to do such thing. But that only last until we are immerse in their lives realizing that there's not much to tell about but that specific heroic moment when they risked their lives to save others and the aftermath of it, which again we don't get to see much of it rather  than a long speech from France president thanking the courage of these young men con decorating them with the highest honor of that  country. Is this the reason why their story stands up among many other? Or the fact that it was selected, produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, a talented director and actor that has proven to be attracted to this kind of stories, bringing that sense of patriotism to all of them that makes you appreciate the service of every enlisted men and women.

And so is the case of at least two of the three guys. Spencer and Alek were friends and neighbors since middle  school. Both raised by  single moms, since kids they showed interest in guns and with some kind of rebel behavior at school after both feeling misunderstood by their school mates and teachers, they found some meaning playing war games and collecting all kinds of toy guns. Lacking of that father figure and with their moms focusing on make it work, they found comfort in each other keeping their friendship through years until finishing school but missing that push to pursue a career, always wondering what life has in storage for them. Always keeping back in their minds, what is their real purpose in life, reason why they enlisted in the army but because some physical limitations they couldn't serve abroad, having to stay in the country and find another way to serve. And that is basically how we spend an hour of the story, where three young men, as many others, struggle to find their place in the world, that search for purpose an meaning to do something useful and great with our lives. Usually rebel hearts are not always trying to break the rules but trying to find the best way to fit and do better. And usually by doing that they can heal any wound and move on. That;s why we have so many students dropping of from college or high school. As they need to figure out their place and their mind before building anything that has been set up for them but that doesn't mean the are bad persons or that they are broken. They just have been missing something so fulfilling that empty space is a quest that many others don't have to go through, making them look like misunderstood, but they might raise and achieve greatness, just need a little bit more of extra help and inspiration.   

Unfortunately, Eastwood takes us through a different path focusing in all the moments that leaded them up to that train and explain or justify why each one of them reacted in that way. Instead of exploring the real issues that these guys were going thru after coming from broken homes and feeling like misfits they whole life, before becoming heroes, and how are they doing after such event. How things have changed, are they still dealing with those issues or have a new ones now that are under the public eye and their whole life has become public. Alek has been playing celebrity for a bit now, so definitely things have changed for all of them. But we don't know more than what the cameras are showing. Why so much effort in telling where this guys are coming from rather then where are they heading to? Spending half of the movie in their back pack trip to Europe where the only thing that matter there is how they ended taking that train but instead of relate to this guys we just keep wondering why are they so special that their story could resonate among others beyond what by no doubt was a truly heroic act. But now after seeing them playing themselves in a movie based in their lives, can't keep but wonder if they still feel lost and trying to find a new opportunity for them to shine and figure out that purpose in life or that was it, they got they 5 minutes of fame and they'll always be remembered for what they did but there is no more to look after that. While many other stories are waiting to be told and many other examples of ordinary people that faced extreme circumstances that turned them into heroes and fighters.

So why is this urge to keep proving that heroes live among us? Is that the only that can we compensate the terrible circumstances that we are living by inspiring us to believe that no matter how bad it gets we can make the best of it?  So why not start changing what is actually wrong so we don't have to force any one into that situations and try to have a peaceful life? Isn't that the purpose of saving the day? And why can't we understand that there are no true villains here. Every horrible act comes as an urge to express something. Something that was nurtured by a difficult life but how many times these acts are trying to proof something. We only look at the casualties in one side but for some, there have been casualties on both sides so what we see might be a reaction that we provoke. We need to understand that the same way that good and brave actions are built some horrible but brave actions are too, we just look at one side as victims but every action comes from a reaction  and sadly in this case, we get to so the bad guy as a bad guy that just showed up to cause some damage but we don't know what was behind. Represented as the stereotype of a middle eastern man, with an expression that only shows fear rather than hate, he goes through the intention of using the guns he is carrying but what was his goal, was he looking for someone specific or was he just looking to start shooting everybody or maybe was more an hostage act? So by the end of an hour and a half all we get from here is that yes, there are heroes among us, there is still ordinary people capable to use their skills and training to serve and help others because there still exists decency and bravery but those people also has been through some trouble and might not be perfect, so how can we help them? they might be lost and maybe in the future their acts won't be in our favor, and maybe that is why we also get some ordinary people looking to hurt others and hurt themselves. We all need to do something to change this and stop violence and stop those that are still letting the use of guns and violence promoting hate, racism, war and that is the only train we need to take and make it stop.