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We saw Wonder Woman over the weekend. It is encouraging to see a woman owning her own power, honoring and prioritizing her own purpose, and channeling into divine Love to triumph over indefatigable evil. She was fearless, on task, worked hard, and knew her own worth. This is what women should be everywhere, and they don’t need to be a superhero to do it.

It is also inspiring for the whole next generation to see a supporting male not threatened by this woman of power. He never demeaned her, but valued and honored her, even when he didn’t understand or agree. And acknowledging and assisting her in using her power did not make him less of a man but more of one. This is what men should be like everywhere too; it should not be rare or remarkable.

I’m not much of a superhero buff, neither am I a fantasy reader, or a believer in many gods. I did not care for how this film descended into the transformer’s type battle that everyone else says was inevitable, expected, and necessary in this film. And for this reason I can give this film only four stars.

It would have been more amazing to have an ending that displayed spectacular strength, without cheapening it with so much phantasm. Give us elements possible to reach for! Better were her other moments of triumph, in the courage to leave home to make her unique contribution to the saving of the world, the tenacity of intention that makes her safely and successfully cross no man’s land, and the faith of friends that vaults her into the tower. These are things that we can and should emulate.

I loved, however, that this film had a female director in male dominated Hollywood, and that movies like this one and Hidden Figures are showing that invincible, amazingly good women make huge box office blockbusters. I loved that they used real cross-fit athletes as the extras among the Amazon women, and I thought some of the feminist one liners were worth seeing the film for.

When Wonder Woman asks what a secretary is, she responds that that is what they call slaves back home. And in the funniest line in the film, Wonder Woman quips, “when it comes to procreation, men are essential, but for pleasure, not necessary.” I love that she fully expects clothing to be comfortable and easy to move in. Her costumes were great and I can already imagine a future full of Halloween renditions of them. And of course Wonder Woman rightly assumed that woman have an equal right to be in parliament! 

All in all, you come away feeling like maybe progress is being made against the forces of inequality. But women still have a long way to go to conquer war for all men in all time. Hopefully we come away more encouraged to fight for that ourselves.

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