Two scenes. One in a play, and one on film.
The lessons they teach are immense, but the lightness and casualness with which they do it, leaves you silent with admiration for the achievements of some people. Unshowy. Dedicated. Professional.
The Lawyer
In 1949, Arthur Miller wrote ‘Death of a Salesman’. It is probably ‘the’ great American play, by probably America’s greatest playwright. It charts the decline of Willy Loman, the salesman of the title, who is living on past glories, no longer able to make ends meet. Nobody takes him seriously anymore. Getting on in years, he is always borrowing money from his friend and neighbour Charley.
There’s a scene late on, when Bernard (Charley’s son) is home to visit his dad, before catching a train back to Washington D.C. Bernard was the nerdy kid earlier in the play and was teased by Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy. He was an awkward youngster, but now, as a grown up, he is substantial and serious.
Willy looks admiringly at Bernard, who’s now a lawyer. They have a long conversation. Willy asks him about his work, family and friends.
Charley walks in.
Charley: How do you like this kid? Gonna argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.
Willy: No! The Supreme Court! And he didn’t even mention it!
Charley: He don’t have to – he’s gonna do it.
It’s a profoundly beautiful moment. Just work hard. Study. Be professional. Any successes, any milestones – no need to advertise them. The work itself is reward enough.
I read that play and scene while I was at university, and it has stayed with me.
We don’t need to project a curated perfection on social platforms. We can just do what we do and be comfortable with that.
The Spy
In the film ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, Maya is the CIA agent who discovers the whereabouts of Usama Bin Laden (UBL), and convinces the CIA director, and the US president, to kill him. She is sent to secretly brief the Navy Seals Black Ops team. They gently smile, as they realise the enormity of their mission – it sinks in.
The film then replays the whole raid, in real time – from stealth flight inside Pakistani territory, from Jalalabad to Abbottabad, and into the house where UBL is found and killed, leaving all other residents, including his family, alive.
At the end, when the job is done, UBL is identified, matched with DNA, and his body is respectfully washed and given Islamic funeral rites.
We then see an enormous Air Force Bomber plane opening its rear ramp. Maya walks on.
Air Force pilot: Are you Maya?
Maya: Yah.
Air Force pilot: That’s the only name they gave me. You can sit wherever you want. You’re the only one on the manifest.
(Pause).
You must be pretty important. You got the whole plane to yourself.
(Pause).
Where do you wanna go?
So. Having doggedly pursued UBL and succeeded in her mission to get Public Enemy Number One, the US Government gives her free pass. Probably for the rest of her life.
She contemplates her achievement. What’s left for her to fight? The final 60 seconds is a close-up of Jessica Chastain’s divine face. She begins to cry. All the setbacks, delays, disappointments, fighting the doubters, and the 129 days of waiting for executive action. They were all worth it.
She doesn’t answer. We don’t know where she wants to go. She has already reached her Ithaca. Her internal journey of the soul is done.
The rest is gravy.
James Neophytou
