Why I loved "X-Men: First Class".

Back in the days when Jamie Tworkowski was writing for the TWLOHA blog more often, he would occasionally write entries with titles such as "Why I loved 'Inception'", looking into where the heart of the film was, the reason he (and anybody else, for that matter) cared about it beyond the action and special effects. I always thought that was sweet and part of me wonders if what I'm about to write is very much unlike something he'd post.

Last night, me and two friends went and saw X-Men: First Class. I'm really broke right now, but I had a free movie and I had to see this one. When X-Men first came out, I was in grade four. I saw it in theatres and when it came out on VHS (wow, that's minty) I watched it over and over again the first week we had it. Now I'm a college student, and with the focus of this film being on that post-high school time in life, there was really no question as to whether or not I'd be seeing this one opening night.

Me and Travis were two of the first people into the theatre, and saved a seat for Brendan. The seats around us filled at a rapid pace and soon the place was packed. The movie actually didn't take that long to start; there weren't that many "coming attraction" previews and soon enough the feature presentation had begun.

I'll try not to spoil this too much for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. The opening scene of this film matches the opening of the very first one: a young Magneto Erik is torn apart from his mother in the herding of Jews during the Holocaust, and when he is being dragged away, his powers manifest in his desperation and rage. Where the original X-Men left off, we see more of Erik's life. The entire topic of World War II, particularly the Holocaust, hits my heart pretty hard, so it was taxing to see what this kid (fictitious or not, based in the reality of the internment camps) had to go through.

And those events defined his life. What had been taken from him, what had been done to him, they shaped him into an angry, hateful, and - underneath it all - fearful individual. As anyone familiar with the franchise knows, Erik becomes Magneto, a mutant leader who becomes, ironically, a Hitler-like figure in the majority of the comics and films. But in this film, set mostly in the 60's, he was just Erik. And cold, broken Erik is befriended by the warm-hearted and compassionate Charles Xavier, a character who can read minds.

One of my favourite plot points in this film is seen a few times in dialogue between Erik and Charles. Charles reveals to Erik that he has read his mind, seen his thoughts and viewed his memories, and Erik's response is one that I think a lot of people would have - anger. Though I think behind that anger, like I said, lies fear. He knows? He saw what happened? He's knows what I've done? What's been done to me?! I think we can all probably relate to this. Being known, really known, is scary. It means transparency. Transparency means vulnerability, and vulnerability is a terrifying thing, because it sees us - willingly or not - facing the risk of some incredibly deep hurt. What Charles says to Erik, however, is beautiful. He says he feels the pain and hurt and anger alongside Erik. He has taken it upon himself. Maybe he can't stop the suffering himself, but out of compassion andm I'd have to believe, love, chooses bears the burden voluntarily so that his friend, who has no choice in the matter, doesn't have to do so alone.

Erik is a character who spends almost the entirety of the franchise in some sort of prison. When he is young, he is imprisoned by the Nazis. For almost the entirety of rest of his life, he is imprisoned in loneliness, brokenness, pain, sorrow, anger and hatred. I hear they're doing a sequel to First Class, but I don't think we will ever again see Erik as a free man - our only glimpse of that was in this film, in the moments where he realized that Charles had seen the ugliness inside of him - the blood on his hands, and his blood on others' - and not only withheld judgement but extended compassion and an offer to suffer alongside. He wept with him. There was freedom in that, something so beautiful and brotherly in that. And they used that word, too - "brothers."

I really did love all the special-effects, the action sequences and fight scenes - they were intense. Hugh Jackman's Wolverine cameo was hilarious. And the film was as much an ensemble piece as any, with a wide range of characters beyond Erik and Charles. But I think that any movie built up on effects, humour, sex appeal, or anything else you can put in a trailer to convince people to shell out ten bucks to see a film falls flat if it doesn't have a heart to the story. There needs to be something that resonates on a deeper level with the audience. For me, I was able to relate to a couple of twenty-something mutants caught up in politics and espionage, because I was enthusiastic and understanding of the significance of their brotherhood, because I caught glimpses of something I've been blessed with as a nineteen-year-old, nomadic Bible college student - legitimate brotherhood and love that endures all things and hopes always.