#Redbox52: One for all

It took me a week - a full week - to watch this week's movie, which is why the review is coming on a Thursday versus Monday. So...this week's movie:

I can't really explain why this movie took so long for me to watch, it wasn't just that it clocked in at almost 3 hours, it wasn't that it was a boring or a dry movie, and it's not that the topic matter wasn't compelling, but it was painful to watch.

Coming from a military family, the events of September 11th and the aftermath hurt. No other way to put it. My father is currently a Lt. Col. in the Army and now works in one of the big buildings and if something like this were to happen again...I don't think I would ever want to think about something like that.

I remember when this movie first was advertised being incredibly pissed off that someone would make a movie about it in the first place. I was frustrated, disgusted, aggravated that they would take something like this and make it into entertainment: but the truth of the matter is that's just what Hollywood does. They take things, often times things we don't necessarily wish to bring up in everyday conversation and make it a topic again.

The first hour or so, or at least the first bit I watched, made me not want to watch the entire thing. Seeing torture is not something that I enjoy, but as I continued to sit through all the pieces of the movie, bit by bit, I began to enjoy it more.

The characters, watching them go through the motions of dealing with what was happening, the obvious stress of not knowing whether or not you were going to accomplish your mission, the constant doubts, the constant setbacks, all leading up to one triumphant moment, the story we all thought we knew so well.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. It felt good to watch it, felt incredible to have a woman be the person that figured it out, that had the heart to go with her gut at all times, to follow something with a steadfast endurance that the movie couldn't even fully capture if we were to be honest.

I mean - tell me - when was the last time you dedicated every aspect of your life for nearly a decade to one thing and one thing only? I can't think of anything that I've even dedicated to fully for a year

All that being said, watching this movie wasn't easy...watching this movie hurt, because in the process, I found myself seeing things from an interesting perspective.

There's a scene where the main character, Maya, is attacked. A couple of guys try to shoot up her car, kill her, and they're unsuccessful. It made me think about how things are framed because to us, she's a hero, but to them she's a threat to their life - a terrorist. I always stop and wonder how we as a country are perceived by outsiders. Are we these terrible people that constantly invade in places we don't belong? Are we people with good intentions? Or are we simply the enemy?

I let the thoughts go and continued on with my day, and eventually the movie, but now I can't help but think about this in personal terms: how we always see ourselves as the hero but never as the antagonist.

Anyway, if you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you do. It's interesting, insightful, and opens your eyes to not just what happened that day, but how much was lost and learned along the way.