Review| Sully, and the Fear of Judgement

In recent decades there are few names that have impacted the landscape of Hollywood as greatly as Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks. Whether it be behind or in front of the camera for Eastwood, or cementing some of the most iconic figures in our minds for Hanks, these two men have been mainstays in Hollywood for more than a generation. Despite that, they have never worked together. That changes with this year’s early fall release of Sully, the story of Chesley Sullenberger’s miraculous water landing of U.S. Airline’s flight 1549 into the Hudson River in 2009.

As a director, Clint Eastwood is one who takes his time with the story. Rarely if ever does he could caught up with drawn-out action sequences or dramatic musical montages. His films are personal, they often strike at specific faults in our humanity, and they give a close-up look into their characters. For those reasons there are times when the pacing of him films can suffer and the story can become boring. But this style makes for a perfect collaboration with Tom Hanks to tell the story of Sullenberger. By all accounts, Sullenberger (Sully) is a methodical, even-tempered man. And just like the man, the film excels with a similar delivery. Eastwood manages to show an incredible event still within the memory of everyone watching while maintaining suspense and intrigue. And he doesn’t just show it once, he shows it at least three times!

The film switches back and forth between days so quickly that it’s easy to forget that we’re moving along with Sully a day after the landing in the Hudson, when he is being questioned by the NTSB during their investigation. His retelling of the events, or the retelling by his co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), or by the stewardesses, is visualized by quick flashbacks to the day of the flight and the flight itself. Each time from a different perspective. Once from the passengers, once from the stewardesses, and finally from Sully himself. What was impressive was the ability to shine the light on smaller corners of this event and maintain the drama and suspense of the landing itself each and every time. This takes a combination of a steady directors hand, actors believably portraying the fear and panic each and every time, and selling the audience enough on these people to care about them whether it be the captain himself, or a few guys showing up late to their flight.

Tom Hanks’ portrayal of Chesley Sullenberger reminded me so much of his delivery in Captain Philips, even almost to the very end and the dramatic post-event breakdown. He had an air of confidence about him at all times, his decision making was swift and calm and his leadership with authoritative. Yet in quieter moments there was a great deal of doubt, second-guessing, and uncertainty. While the suspense showing the event itself is the main draw for this film, I think its heart truly lies here. With the world heralding him as a hero, but the authorities questioning his decision making and his job hanging in the balance, Sully confides his true feelings to very few people, if anyone. Someone so confident, someone we call captain or ‘hero’, he feels the same weight of judgement as us all. This is the human side of it. Sure he saved 155 people and it’s amazing and we rightly give him our praise and gratitude, but he’s human and his fear of judgement, or errors in his past, haunts him the way it does all of us.

At the risk of going full on Pascal’s Wager, this is a reality we ignore at our own expense; humanity is dreadfully concerned with judgement. So much so it seems like an inherent part of being human. Usually this just plays out on an individual level with our own fear of what others think of us followed by some horrid eisegesis of Matthew 7, but globally we see this occurring at a macro level. In ancient times, entire religious doctrines were developed out of a deep-rooted fear of karma. Human kind is entrenched in fear that our bad deeds will come back to haunt us. But why? Where does this fear come from? And is it even reasonable? I’m pretty sure I know what C.S. Lewis would say. If, as he explained in Mere Christianity, our sense that this life isn’t all there is and we’re made for something else is an indicator that there IS something else, then what does our inner sense of a coming judgement tell us? Sully’s fears that the NTSB would conclude he made the wrong choice are a microcosm of fears we all feel from time to time. The fear of a wrong choice, a wrong lifestyle… the fear of judgement.

Scripture tells us there is an ultimate judgement that we all will face one day. It will be more than just weathering a friend’s disappointment, or facing a penalty from a board of authority figures. It will be an all-encompassing, heart-level look at our lives. It will be a judgement wherein the standard is perfection, and anything short demands atonement. But who can attain divine perfection? None of us meet the standards to live eternally in God’s presence (Rom. 3:23) but all of us have an advocate, one who will atone for us, in Jesus Christ. He takes the judgement for those who believe in Him so that we may abound in his grace rather than dwell in fear.

Sully is a solid feel-good movie, which serves a bit of dual fulfillment. At the time (Jan. 2009), New York needed some hopeful news and they got it in the miracle on the Hudson. And this year in film we’re stuck with underwhelming stories of bad guys as the heroes, submitting ourselves to be scared to death, and generally lackluster attempts to entertain. We need a good old fashioned feel good experience at the theaters again, and Sully fits that bill.