X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

 

X-Men: Days of Future Past

“Are we destined down this path? Destined to destroy ourselves like so many species before us? Or can we evolve fast enough to change ourselves, change our fate? Is the future truly set?”

"I don't want your suffering. I don't want your future."

“Please Charles. We need you to hope again.”

-X-Men: Days of Future Past

We are all broken in some way. Though, it is how we discover our wholeness that truly defines us, leading us down the path we know we should follow. It's remarkable how prescient the X-Men films are. Yet, their consistent relevance is not manufactured in any way. It is innate in their DNA. A mutation that has been there from the very beginning. X-Men Day is a Future Past is no different in this regard. The film is a prime pillar in a series brought to life by the very heart beat of human dignity and purpose. The X-Men franchise is often the most willing, in popular culture, to look back in order to look forward. To hope in a time dominated by cynicism, and in some cases, a lack of foresight in terms of the profound beauty of the human condition.
X-Men thrives, especially with its cinematic endeavors, in its exploration of wholeness. These films dive deep into the state of the human psyche and its relationship to the bodies we have been given. In short, human belonging does not come from a pursuit of perfection, but a deep understanding of who we truly are, and who we have the capacity to be. And yes, that realization, more often than not, includes an acceptance of our human frailty and failure. As the saying goes, It is in accepting that weakness that we truly find our abiding strength and purpose.
Days of Future Past wonderfully elucidates this truth when it opens Charles Xavier up to a fuller understanding of his paraplegic body, as well as his mutant abilities. Charles's acceptance of his disability allows him to fully integrate his mutant abilities into the truest form of his of humanity. In essence, he becomes a fully integrated human because he accepts his weakness. Paradoxically then, at least in the world's eyes, Charles is granted strength. Not as a solution to his disability, but as a complement to it.
Align this personal growth with a poignant reminder of the frailty of peace and the need for reconciliation, and Days of Future Past becomes a powerful example of superhero cinema. Made all the more so, with its focus on properly nuanced, and meaningful disability representation. This all solidifies into a resoundingly impactful warning of the harmful mental effects of ableism on a person's acceptance of their disabled body. Days of Future Past is in turn, a clarion call for all of us to come to terms with, and cherish our God-given humidity. Director Bryan Singer and his team help us to reconcile with our past. In order to bring us to an understanding of the need for a hopeful future.

Rated PG- 13 for sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action, some suggestive material, nudity (Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique is in a form fitting costume the majority of the movie. The character is supposed to be nude. Though she is wearing a costume and the PG-13 rating is taken into account in that regard. Though parents take note) and language

I found X-Man: Days of Future Past to be deeply moving, thought provoking and entertaining. I hope in some way you do too.

X-Men: Days of Future Past can be streamed on Disney Plus with a subscription. It is also available to purchase on any digital video streaming service, it is available physically on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD disc.