MOVIES
B Y M O L LY T E M P L E T O N
GAL GADOT AS
WONDER WOMAN
WONDER
WOMAN
Going into battle to
save the world of men
because it’s the right
thing to do
W
hy do superheroes do what they do? It’s a
question often answered with a glib over-
simplification: It’s the right thing. When
you’ve developed a super-suit to save your
own ass, it’s the proper thing to use it to stop
bad guys. Whether a freak accident gifts you with super-
speed, or a spider bites you — same deal.
Superhero movies tend to make the right thing look like
a given. There are bad guys; therefore, we stop them. Vil-
lains’ quick tongues and cool merchandise mean they often
get more screen time than people whose lives need saving
— unless it’s about saving a friend.
When the whole world needs a rescue, when all of Man-
hattan is very grateful to the Avengers or Superman, it might
seem too difficult to focus on the ordinary folks on the street.
Wonder Woman is much more interested in ordinary
people than villains. (The movie drags only when it focus-
es on its baddies, though Dr. Poison serves as an interest-
ing reminder of how the patriarchy sees powerful women:
broken, toxic, something to be controlled.)
It’s people who engage the feelings of our heroine, Di-
ana (Gal Gadot), princess of Themyscira, who enters the
world of men because she wants to help. Her world, her
mythology, is built on helping; her people were created to
help in a long-ago war.
Now her people stay on their island and train under the
piercing gaze of Robin Wright as General Antiope. (Direc-
tor Patty Jenkins does beautiful things with the requisite
superhero slow-mo, dwelling on glorious, dreamy takes of
strong bodies in motion.)
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When Steve Trevor (Chris Pine as the perfect dude-in-
distress) winds up on Themyscira with a tale of war and
conflict in the outside world, only Diana — the baby, the
innocent — wants to help. Everyone else has seen enough
of the world of men.
Gadot has a little frown that serves her well: It illus-
trates her naiveté, but it also sits right above very know-
ing eyes. Diana might not understand your stupid human
choices, but she still knows hundreds of languages and the
lessons of history, and she has a vital curiosity that makes
her want to explore anything new.
And she knows that power should be used to help. She
can’t understand why people aren’t dropping everything to
rush into battle to make the world a better place.
But they — we — don’t have the luxury of being
nearly indestructible and the ability to leap tall buildings
in a single bound. Wonder Woman is the story of Diana
Prince’s coming to understand both of these things: the
fallibility and fragility of mankind, and the extent of her
own power.
As Wonder Woman makes its way from a breathtaking
first act to a serviceable but bland superhero-standard end-
ing, it traces one of the most inclusive and sincere narra-
tives in superhero films. “Everyone’s fighting their own
battles, Diana,” says Sameer (Saïd Taghmaoui), who want-
ed to be an actor but was the wrong color.
Jenkins and her writers carefully (if quickly) illustrate
these battles: Etta Candy (Lucy Davis) references women’s
getting the vote. Sniper Charlie (Ewen Bremner) is shaken
by PTSD. Chief (Eugene Brave Rock), explaining his pres-
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ence in the war, tells Diana that his people have nothing.
Who did this to your people, she asks, outraged. Chief
looks at Steve Trevor, sleeping peacefully. “His people,”
he says.
Steve doesn’t have one of these moments. Not exactly
— his backstory is hinted at, but stays unexplored. Steve is
gentle and smart and sharply observant; he believes in do-
ing the right thing, but he’s flawed, too. He has had to learn
to turn a blind eye to some of the suffering he sees in the
world. He can’t fix all of it, and to see it all can leave you
overwhelmed by empathy.
Unless you are a superhero — in which case you have
the power to transform your empathy into compassion, and
do the best you can to help. This is Diana’s journey, and it
is a beautiful and affecting indictment of the kind of people
who have power yet can move through the world without
using those powers for good.
When she first finds herself in the world of men, Di-
ana is all empathy, a raw nerve, enthused and horrified and
mystified in turn. But when she sets foot on the muddy
field of No Man’s Land, putting herself in the line of fire
because she has the power to do so, she transforms into
Wonder Woman on every level.
She does this, and so many other things, while men tell
her no. She does it believing that a greater power than any
of them is masterminding the whole war. She does it not
just because it’s the right thing, but because everyone is
fighting their own battles, and hers is a battle for love and
compassion. It’s one we should all remember to fight. (Cin-
emark 17, Regal Valley River)
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