A Forgotten Hero from a Forgotten War

By Razi Tanksley

In 1950, during the intense time of the Cold War, the U.S. joined forces with Great Britain and the United Nations (U.N.) to support South Korea against com-munist-backed North Korea. At home, the issue of segregation was atrociously rooted in society and affected millions of Black people living in the United States. Through this experience of racial discrimination and societal hardship, Black sol- diers overcame these adversities and rose to notable positions in the U.S. military.

The story of the movie “Devotion” follows the true path of one of these brave souls, Jesse Brown, who was the first Black aviator in the United States Navy. Director J.D. Dillard brings new life to Adam Makos’s 2015 biography “Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship and Sacrifice.” Differentiating from Makos’s work, Dillard digs deeper into the emotional context of Jesse Brown’s heroic story.

Starring Johnathan Majors and Glen Powell, who also serves as an executive producer, “Devotion” takes the dedicated work of many exceptional members of production to fully complete to a distinct point of excellence. Besides actors and workers behind the scenes, it also took leadership from them with in-depth knowledge of aerial fights to portray the intensity of those who fought in the skies.

That’s where people like adviser Mike Oliver, general manager of the Erickson Aircraft Collection, stepped in. His connection to the film came from how he could relate to Brown, as they both have grown up in that era, and he said in a behind-the-scenes interview that “being an African American, and all the controversy of him going into the Naval Academy to be a fighter pilot, when it was all white guys in there,” made Brown’s achievements all the more “impressive.’”

Another person who connected to the plot of the film was military journalist James Barber. In terms of how realistic the dogfights and exhilaration felt by the pilots, he noted that there was “far more footage of real airplanes than anyone could have imagined. The technology used to film these planes didn’t exist just a few years ago, and it’s likely that none of these planes will be airworthy just a few years from now. It’s the exact right moment to make a movie like this, and director J.D. Dillard, son of a Blue Angel veteran, seems to be the exact right choice to make a movie that emphasizes this kind of aerial footage.”

To the audience, while there were some mixed feelings about specific details, many shared in an exhilarated and heartfelt attachment to the story. Viewers such as Collin Garbarino, who shared his review on Rotten Tomatoes, enjoyed how “Devotion’s” lead characters followed a memorable “male-buddies inbattle formula, but it manages to avoid cliche in creating a genuine relationship as Hudner and Brown grow to trust and respect each other as ‘wingmen.’”

Others shared views of film fanatic and Rotten Tomatoes reviewer, Erik Childless, about how when dealing with the main character’s battle against racial injustice, the film does “a fine job of avoiding the cliches in trying to tell a story of racial progression but feels so concentrated in doing it that it neglects to do the job of generating a real dynamic between its leads.”

New York Magazine’s Bilge Ebiri thought that there are “stretches of ‘Devotion’ where it doesn’t seem like all that much is happening, but then you look closer and you realize that just about everything is happening.”

In my opinion, “Devotion” is well worth viewing because of its compelling drama and storyline that will keep you engaged throughout.