Especially in this political climate, I am desperate for heroes. Not superheroes or cartoon character heroes, but real people who step forward to protect others. And that’s just what Clint Eastwood has given us in The 5:17 to Paris. Eastwood has cast the three real-life buddies whose split-second willingness to act saved the passengers on a Parisian train from being massacred by a terrorist. Yes, many critics blather about the stiffness of the two military guys–Spencer Stone and Alek Skarlatos, and their civilian pal, Anthony Sadler, and pick at the screenplay by newbie, Dorothy Blyskal, but the film, cutting in and out of the heroes’ boyhood friendships and family lives, what made them who they are and prepared them for what they would do, is a gift for the heart. A dose of hope. A salve for cynicism. See it if you can.
