I’m not a film critic, and this isn’t a film review. It’s a review of a review. Actually, it’s a story about a review, because it’s a window into the world of modern identity politics. And how the politics of gender, in this case, can destroy any cultural experience deemed not sufficiently “woke.”
The movie stars Matt Damon as car legend Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as British race car driver Ken Miles. The two, it turns out, were asked by a giant American car company, Ford, to build a car that could beat Ferrari in a race the iconic Italian brand had come to dominate: Le Mans. And do it quickly.
It is a real-life story about two underdog gearheads tasked with doing the impossible. Though the movie takes some liberties with timelines, the outcome (spoiler alert!) remains the same: Ford doesn’t just win the 1966 Le Mans—it takes second and third place, too, thus ending the Ferrari reign.
The movie was a blast. Time flew by as we watched the classic American story about competition, innovation, ambition and the sheer thrill of driving fast cars. And—as my daughter was happy to report—the male stars were pretty easy on the eyes, for old guys. The American people agreed, as the movie sped to its own No. 1 finish.
Then came my encounter with a review for Bloomberg’s National Post. The writer, Hannah Elliott, lost me at hello with the headline: “Ford v Ferrari depicts a ‘car guy’ generation best left in the past.”
The movie, according to Elliott, paints “a devastating picture of the lack of diversity that permeated the industry in the 1960s.” Men, she explains, dominate the screen. “And when I say men, I mean white, straight men.” The horror!
What did she expect to see in a movie about 1960s auto racing? Is this how she experiences all history?
She then unloads on Shelby, seemingly believing that the filmmakers did not pay enough attention to his deficiencies. (He was married seven times, got sued for sexual harassment in 2011, liked big game hunting, was extremely litigious and had a legendary potty mouth.)
The result, according to Elliott, is another “film celebrating those nostalgic golden days when white men ruled.”
Does Elliott really believe that audiences who went to Ford v Ferrari were “celebrating those nostalgic golden days when white men ruled”? Is that why she thinks we went to see Saving Private Ryan? I’m sure it must have burned her up to see so few women storming the beaches of Normandy. Does she think we loved The Green Book because we long for the good old days of segregation? Or The Revenant because we long for the days before GPS, snowmobiles, hot plates and HVAC?
It’s history, and nothing can change what used to be. Human beings have a natural curiosity about things that happened before us. And the people who came before us, too. It’s how we learn about ourselves. And our country. And how far we’ve all come.
If we don’t tell these stories, if we leave them “dead and gone,” as the writer recommends, because they are not sufficiently “woke,” then how will we learn? How will we grow?
In the comments section, a stream of rebuttals from both men and women challenged the writer’s premise. The best was by someone who gave the name Jen Zordan.
Modern women are not a monolithic crowd, and many are not buying into the hyper-sensitivity and resentment of a small and angry strain of feminism. They’re free to choose what they love, and whom they love—and that includes movies about car guys and car culture in the 1960s.
Lee Habeeb is vice president of content for Salem Radio Network and host of Our American Stories. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife, Valerie, and his daughter, Reagan.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
