Last Ounce of Courage (2012)

The United States of America is an extremely politically charged place at the moment. What should be a partisan political system is anything but. The Democrats and Republicans can’t get along. Liberal people want to move things forward with respect for people of all backgrounds, while the conservative types want people to be less offended by everything. It’s the past versus the future with a wrestling match between ideologies taking place in the present.

This battle of two different political outlooks isn’t only taking place in the state houses. It’s taking place on the big screen. Film audiences are pushing for more representation. This has led to people of various races and genders getting to share their stories. The LGBTQ community has begun to find their place in film. Racist, sexist, and homophobic jokes, though still appearing in films, are less frequent than they were in the past. Things are progressing to create a more welcoming film community where stories from all people can be told.

As a counter to that, there are films that fight that idea. The Christian films that frequently straddle the line between mainstream and completely unknown, tend to stick firmly to their beliefs. The filmmakers behind these movies are unwilling to accept that their views might not be as respectful of other cultures as they think. They feel like the liberal majority in Hollywood has a large foothold. They need to share their views as well. The only difference is that the conservative Christian views feel much more like propaganda than the stuff that Hollywood usually puts out.

Last Ounce of Courage was one such Christian film that felt more like propaganda than anything. It came out in 2012 and showed mayor Bob Revere (Marshall R. Teague) fighting back against the people who wanted to cancel Christmas in his town, while mourning his son who passed away in the war fourteen years earlier. His grandson Christian (Hunter Gomez) had recently moved in and was learning the true meaning of Christmas through his grandfather’s actions.

The message of Last Ounce of Courage was clear. Christmas was about Christianity. People were becoming too politically correct, and it was killing Christmas. Thus, it was killing Christianity. The reason that people fought and died in war was for the freedom of Americans. Christianity was a freedom. To disrespect Christmas and Christianity was to disrespect the soldiers who were protecting freedom in America.

There was no subtlety to this messaging. The movie began with Bob Revere riding his motorcycle down the road with a giant American flag waving from the back. Most of the message, however, was in the dialogue. The characters would say things about their rights and about what other people thought of the Christians in America. It was a lot of dialogue about how victimized their community was in the modern world. And it’s that dialogue that will be used to highlight the various talking points that Last Ounce of Courage had.

“You know, I always saw myself as a patriot. I don’t remember anyone telling me freedom had to be fought for and defended. I love my country and I love being free.”

This quote right about summarized the attitude of Last Ounce of Courage. It’s the same sort of attitude that the phrase “Make America great again” has. The character of Bob Revere thought that America was great. Now, with the changing attitude of the general population, he was living in a different America. He was going to have to fight to get his America back.

The other thing that this quote implied, having now watched all of Last Ounce of Courage, was that freedom and Christianity were the same thing. Bob Revere spent the movie fighting back against a nation that was slowly erasing Christian expression. Symbols of Christianity were being removed from public places and Christmas was less about Christ. Bob was going to fight for his freedom by going against society and sharing his religious paraphernalia.

“Can you imagine? It offended somebody.”

The idea that people are too offended nowadays has been something said so many times that it is hard to count. Older people have used it when talking about younger people who care more about respecting people of all backgrounds. Comedians have used it when talking about how they used to be able to make certain kinds of jokes, which have become recognized as hurtful or harmful to people. The word recognized meaning that they were always hurtful or harmful, but it took this long for the majority of people to actually take a stand against that kind of humour.

In terms of Last Ounce of Courage, the offensive material was religious symbols. Apparently seeing crosses and such symbols of Christianity was offensive to people and Bob Revere was urged to keep them out of public. The people who were offended demanded that every public space be completely neutral and void of any religious symbolism. Those thoughts grinded the gears of the Revere family.

“For a long time, people were trying to pass laws to get rid of Christmas altogether.”

First off… Who was trying to get rid of Christmas? At no point has there been a large following of people who wanted to rid the world of Christmas. It’s one of the most celebrated holidays. There would likely be an outrage if it was outlawed. This whole statement made no sense. It was a case of a Christian writer trying to make the Christian faith the victims when there was nobody attacking them.

It was this attitude that pushed Last Ounce of Courage forward. The main conflict was that there was a separation of church and state, which apparently meant that there was not to be Christmas anywhere. And since Christmas was supposed to only be about Jesus Christ and nothing else, people were not allowed to share their faith anywhere. This, in turn, meant that their freedoms were being infringed upon, which was a major no no for a man whose son died in the war. What war? Fourteen years before 2012 was 1998, so I couldn’t tell you what war.

“When prayer was banned from school, so was the Bible. That’s just the way it is now.”

Maybe it’s because there is a whole Catholic school board around here, but the claim that the Bible is banned from schools sounds ludicrous. Even prayer being banned from school sounds a little strange. It could have been a case where they were mandatory things that were phased out as more religions and people without faith began integrating into the system. It would be tough to force Jewish, Muslim, Islamic, Atheist, and people of other faiths to join in on Christian prayer and the reading of the Bible. But to outright ban it sounds odd.

The thing is, God’s Not Dead 2 made the same argument. There could be some basis for this claim. In that film, a teacher wasn’t allowed to speak about her faith to a student that asked her about it. She ended up in court as a result of commenting on religion. Perhaps it’s a case of Canadian versus American schooling. Schooling here in Canada doesn’t have those same restrictions, from what I experienced. Maybe American schools do.

“Gentlemen, did you happen to know that about a hundred and fifty years ago, Christmas was made a federal and legal holiday? A religious and secular holiday. By using the threat of a lawsuit to keep Christmas pushed back into the churches and homes and out of public places and schools. And speaking of schools, did you know our children are not allowed to sing Christmas songs in our schools? Oh yeah, they’re not allowed to anymore. And a public school teacher is allowed to teach objectively about the origins of Christmas in the classroom. Well, they can. They don’t, but they can. And we can have a nativity scene, as long as other religious symbols are acknowledged at the same time. School districts across the United States are taking Christmas Break off the calendar completely and replacing it with Winter Break. Some towns, no red and green lights. Some towns, no trees. Some towns, no decorations at all. That’s not because it’s illegal. There is no law against it. Just a bunch of people that are afraid of what Christmas is really about.”

The war on Christmas. An all too common claim is that Christmas is getting too far away from what it should be about. It should be about togetherness and family. It shouldn’t be about capitalism and decorations. It should be about people sharing their lives and loving one another. It shouldn’t be about people wanting a gift or worrying about getting the right gifts for other people. The point seems pretty clear here. People what their old Christmas back.

In terms of Last Ounce of Courage, the old Christmas was the religious one meant to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The government had slowly been reducing the holiday from its “original” purpose. The religious elements of the holiday were removed from the public eye and banned from schools. The Christmas songs thing sounds like an odd point. I’m sure kids can still sing Silent Night or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in school. And the objective Christmas thing? What’s the point of bringing it up then backing off by saying “They don’t do it, but they can”? That last bit just cancels out the point. You can’t get outraged at something happening then say it doesn’t.

This whole war on Christmas thing came up in politics just this past week. It’s Christmas, so the old “We’re no longer allowed to say Merry Christmas” thing has creeped in again. The conservative people, who claim that the liberal people get too offended, seem to always get offended at the term “Happy Holidays.” Donald Trump was proclaiming that he won and people were once again saying “Merry Christmas.” It’s a dumb thing to get hung up on. Nobody cares whether you say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” They mean the same thing. They don’t mean much of anything. It’s just a greeting.

“We fight for freedom! We fight for freedom! We fight for freedom!”

Now we get to that crossover between freedom and Christianity. Bob’s son died in an unspecified war. He was part of a team that saved POWs. He left behind his parents, a sister, a wife, and a newborn child. Fourteen years later, Bob would put up his fight against the people who were killing Christmas. The fight was for freedom. He didn’t want his son’s death to have been in vain. His son died fighting for freedom in foreign lands, so Bob was going to fight for freedom in his hometown.

This was doubled down with what could be seen as the climax of the war against the war on Christmas. Christian, Bob’s grandson, helped a mutiny within the school winter play. He took to the stage and presented a video of his father on the day of his father’s death. His father spoke about fighting for freedom and how God and Jesus were with everyone at home. Then he was killed in an explosion. This happened in the video.

Christian had played this video, basically a snuff film, in front of a high school auditorium filled with people. They wept over the lives lost. The video was meant to represent how everyone was getting too far away from freedom. The play had been scripted to involve aliens and remove any hints at religion from the three wise men story. Now, thanks to the students who sang Silent Night with the original lyrics back in place, and Christian playing the video, the people of their town realized that they deserved freedom. They deserved to celebrate Christmas the religious way.

The sharing of Christianity was the message that Last Ounce of Courage conveyed to its audience. The world was against Christianity, and they had to fight back to make it seen that they should have the freedom to express themselves however they want. The movie repeated the idea that people were too offended and the good Christians had to fight for their freedom of expression. They had to be freedom fighters, much like the men who went to war and lost their lives.

The message of Last Ounce of Courage fit into the talking points of Republicans and their conservative supporters. It was a side of film that isn’t typically seen in the mainstream. Hollywood, though still predominately white and male, has made a few moves to add some diversity to the things being released. The Christian filmmakers of movies such as Last Ounce of Courage posit that America was better before it decided to move forward. Two different views. Two different sides of a crazy political system. Will they ever come together to find some middle ground? It seems unlikely.

What is likely is a bunch of notes right now:

• God’s Not Dead 2 (week 230) was referenced in this post.
• Last Ounce of Courage featured Katherine McNamara, who was also in New Year’s Eve (week 57).
• The star of Last Ounce of Courage was Marshall R. Teague, an actor from Road House (week 200).
• Have you seen Last Ounce of Courage? What did you think of it? Did it feel like propaganda or a different point of view? Let me know in the comments. Or you can find me on Twitter and tell me there.
• Twitter and the comments are also places where you can let me know what I should be checking out for the Sunday “Bad” Movies. I’m open to any suggestions. I’m going to be working on the schedule for the next bunch of movies and could always use some ideas.
• There’s an Instagram devoted to the Sunday “Bad” Movies. Give it a look see.
• Now for next week’s movies. That’s right. Next week is one of the tens, so there are two movies being featured. There’s no real rhyme or reason to this choice outside of the first film featuring a New Year’s Eve scene that ties into the beginning of the second film. I’ll be watching the Sex and the City movies for next week’s post. That’s five hours of movie watching. I’ll see you soon for that.