editor note (Pam) As many know I am a huge fan of the movie Wonder Woman. I have seen it 6 times and counting. I believe the first half of the movie is likely the best superhero movie, and I too cried.
http://www.mercurynews.com
By MARTHA ROSS | mross@bayareanewsgroup.com
June 6, 2017
Why ‘Wonder Woman’ fight scenes are making some women cry
When most of us think of movies that let us indulge in a good cry, we usually think of a romance that doesn’t end happily or a saga about childhood in which a beloved pet dies.
We don’t often think of big summer action blockbusters with improbable fight scenes and lots of massive CGI-generated destruction.
But “Wonder Woman” is the summer blockbuster that is defying many norms in terms of what American audiences have come to expect from a summer blockbuster, not to mention a superhero flick.
Not only does it have an entertaining script and actual character development, but its story is led by a woman and the entire project was helmed by female director Patty Jenkins.
The result is an unqualified hit, with “Wonder Woman” coming in no. 1 at the box office, breaking box office records and gathering terrific reviews from critics.
It’s also provoking tears of joy among female movie-goers all over the country — especially during the fight scenes. The internet is flooded with such accounts from women, saying the tears started streaming down their faces when Amazonian princess Diana started kicking you known what.
The flood has been enough that director Patty Jenkins told the Los Angeles Times’ Margaret Woerner that she wasn’t surprised to hear Woerner’s reaction. “I’ve heard that a lot,” she said.
In a piece for the Times, Woerner says her tears during the fight scenes caught her by surprise. Woerner thought, OK, sure, she might get a little misty-eyed if Gal Gadot’s idealistic Diana gives an inspiring speech about the evils of war and the inherent goodness of people.
But Woerner said the tears started flowing pretty early on in the movie as soon as a major battle sequence began. (I confess I started getting teary-eyed, too.)
Woerner pinpoints a scene on a beach, when Diana’s warrior mentor Gen. Antiope (Robin Wright) rides into battle with a smile on her face while Diana’s mother Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) leaps off her horse and spins into the air to wipe out two armed men with her sword. As Woerner said, these women were presented as powerful, highly trained soldiers who knew what they were doing and the film took them seriously.
“As the battle raged on, it became clear that the scene was not window-dressing, 10 seconds of Amazon showtime before the real movie started. This was the movie — female warriors kicking ass.”
The most powerful and emotionally wrenching scene for many is when Diana takes on No Man’s Land.
With Steve Trevor, she wants to help end World War I, a global castrophe brought about by the muddled, misguided aims of Old World powers. The ultimate symbol of that war’s intransigence and futility was No Man’s Land, a decimated, unoccupied strip of land defended on both sides by barbed wire, land mines and soldiers armed with rifles and machine guns who would easily pick off anyone trying to push through.
When Diana arrives in Europe, she’s repeatedly told by various men all the things she can’t do. On the French battlefront, she’s also told there’s no hope in defending a French village caught in the crossfire. But, she decides she’s in Europe to save people, so she pulls herself out of the trenches and walks solemnly into No Man’s Land.
She uses her bracelets and shield to deflect bullets and machine gun fire. With her lead, her forces overwhelm the German troops and save the town.
As Woerner said, that scene was “tremendous” though Jenkins says it was almost cut from the movie and she had to fight to keep it it.
It’s a good thing the scene made it because it opened up many women a need that definitely wasn’t satisfied by countless other superhero movies in which guys punch other guys in the face.
“Witnessing a woman hold the field, and the camera, for that long blew open an arguably monotonous genre,” Woerner said. “We didn’t need a computer-generated tree or a sassy raccoon to change the superhero game; what we needed was a woman.”
Bustler writer Kelsea Stahler adds to the heartfelt appreciation by saying that the film comes with serious “historical weight” with female director and its noble, principled female protagonist, who is respected and admired by her male collaborators. Stahler said that this is the movie that female movie-goers, especially those who like superhero movies, have been waiting for.
“When the film reaches peak action and the lead actor, the director, and everyone involved are clearly hitting the high octane scenes with everything they’ve got, eschewing sexy shots for powerful ones, and holding absolutely nothing back, it’s hard not to see it all as a heartfelt victory,” Stahler said.
Other women shared similar feelings.
“I just thought about the No Man’s Land sequence & started crying again,” writer and director Julia Hart tweeted.