A BRIEF SUMMARY

Recently, Netflix released a special titled, “Sly,” which basically holds itself as a documentary detailing how Sylvester Stallone came to be successful in a few of his major film roles, as well as the impact these roles had on his life as an actor.

I suppose it would be relevant to mention here that there isn’t much to spoil since this is a documentary. You needn’t worry that you should watch it before reading this article. However, if you prefer to watch something prior to reading about it, then please proceed at your own discretion.

THERAPY FOR WOUNDS

For starters, if you consider yourself a fan of Sylvester Stallone or his filmography, then I would say there is much to enjoy about this documentary.

One of the highlights that I really appreciated is how Thom Zimney (director) placed a particularly methodical and, I would also say effective emphasis on the impact Sly’s father had on his life, as well as his career. In several scenes throughout the documentary, the ripple effect of his father’s behavior during different stages of his life is reiterated to deliver a message to the viewer: his father’s treatment played a poignant and integral role in the characterization and maturity of some the most iconic roles Stallone wrote in his career. In fact, I would even say as a viewer of this documentary, and a fan of Sly, that his writing of these characters appears to be, in some sense, therapy for the times in his life where his father wounds are deepest.

COMING FROM AN EMPTY SPACE

Sly did not grow up in the type of home life where two parents loved one another and provided a healthy example of love (nor a fear of God) for their children; in fact, Rambo was born out of some of the trauma Sly experienced, and Rocky is essentially the father he never had, but wanted. It’s beautiful how these characters complement the very life of Sly, and how he actually portrays these characters so naturally despite how they weren’t based on people whom he ever had a real relationship with. These characters came from an empty space which was never filled by the person it was expected to be filled by.

A WHOLE LOT OF SLY

To be honest, I was hoping and somewhat anticipating Sly would bring up Jesus or God at least once, considering his interview years ago with CBN. But to my disappointment, Jesus was only mentioned a couple of times in exclamation, rather than in veneration. Rocky statues are glamorized in several scenes; the camera is set right in front of script books with movie titles to detail his career—large paintings of his characters are hung on the walls—even wax moldings of his own characters’ faces. In other words, a whole lot of Sly, but nothing more. All of his successes and triumphs, but nothing about how God that helped him achieve it.

Strangely, despite the humility that seems to be the intention of Sly’s attitude in this movie, not once does he ever direct any attention towards his idea of God, nor does he mention how faith played a role in any part of his life. There isn’t even an iteration of what he’d said in his CBN interview about how he could not assume he was able to do what he did with Rocky on his own.

IMPORTANT MISSING PIECES

In Sly, we find Stallone sharing vulnerability as he opens up about how he’s spent so much time in film instead of with family, and realizing film is for nothing if there’s no one in our lives. And while that truly is a priceless lesson by itself, one step further would have been to admit the role God played in his life, how God provided and spoke to him; how his revelations about film and family came from a transcendent understanding that all things in this life will pass away. If anything, it sounds like the lesson Stallone has learned in all his years is how important family is, but I’m not confident he understands how important our relationship to God is through Christ.

If our only understanding about this life is that family is crucial to success and living a fulfilling life, then we’ve placed family in the very spot God should be in. Instead of thanking God for being above us, above our family, and giving Him the glory for all we have, we put family on the pedestal. We must be careful not to idolize anything in this world, because it can all be taken away just to remind us of who should really be our number one.

COMPREHENDING A SIGNIFICANT POINT

The fact that a film star can recognize the merit of how time-consuming film is should be the first indicator that there is something deeper at play to why that point even matters in the first place. Without our understanding of God, without the knowledge that life is short, and without faith in our omniscient and omnipotent God capable of moving the pieces in our lives in such a way as to make space for miracles and breakthroughs (like Rocky)—how can we possibly comprehend the significance of spending too much time away from the very people God sends to support, encourage, and lift us up and love on us—like family?

I don’t believe we can. I believe that by first coming to understand the way God moves (understanding the very nature of God), we then have our eyes opened to the actualization of God placing in our hearts the truth that this life is just the surface of existence, but that eternity awaits. In each moment we have here, God creates the opportunity to value what and who He places in our lives, far more preciously than anything in front of a camera.

A REFLECTION OF ETERNITY

There is a reflection of this value system (as mentioned above) in the way we love our friends and family; a reflection of eternity in the way we humble ourselves to love stronger, to hope deeper and live more fully—because there is more to life than meets the eye.

If eternity awaits, then why are we trying so hard to please people who were never a part of the journey that helped us become the version of ourselves most equipped to love God? Why fight so hard to satisfy people who don’t really care what happens to us (eternally)? We are trying to heal wounds (in Sly’s case, father wounds) that only Christ can heal.

BLIND LIVING

We are too overly convinced that the world can offer us the very thing we never have to beg for from God. Remember this: forgiveness, healing, restoration, all wrapped up in one word, is “salvation“… and it’s offered freely only in Christ Jesus (John 14:6). Bu we must be humbled to a level where we are no longer the god of our own lives, where we can see our need for a Savior to save us from the sins in our lives that, when left unchecked, blind us from truly living… the kind of blind living Sly describes as being so busy with film that family was left without him. Also the type of blind living where we see everything and anything as more important than our relationship to God; a relationship that has the power to change how we love people, and which determines our eternal destination.

UNNECESSARY APPROVAL

What really hit me when I heard the words escape Stallone’s lips was a moment where he admits attention from his audience is “insatiable.” Basically, approval. Favor. But… what about the favor of God? What about the approval of God? Our faith isn’t about seeking attention from God, but about seeking a relationship with God through Jesus, asking Him to use us for His glory. Doesn’t our faith in Jesus matter infinitely more than any one earthly fan’s attention or approval? We seek it because we have an unhealed wound. Stallone’s wound was created by the loss of a father he never had; a father who was there, but whose impact brought more havoc and pain than closure and affirmation.

HEALING BY SURRENDERING

What so many get deceived by is how the wound we start with isn’t healed by enabling so many other wounds to be inflicted. Truly, the wound is healed by surrendering to God. We can’t live for the world, because after all, the world is passing away; rather, we live for God, and He gives us life in abundance (John 10:10). It is black or white; we’re either cold or hot: God spits out the lukewarm (Revelations 3:16). We’re not here to please people, we’re here to spread the Good News that Jesus Christ brought salvation for those who place their faith in Him.

REFLECTIONS, METAPHORS & WHAT IT’S ALL FOR

Sly closes on what comes across as an attempt to leave the movie on a perhaps inspiring message: “I’m in the hope business. I don’t like sad endings. Shoot me.” He uses these words as though to surrender to his truth and confess that what he wants is what he wants. What he misses is what God wants. More importantly, there is no other “hope business” than the hope we have in Christ, who paved the way for us to get to God in eternity. He has overcome the world, providing the only hope that lasts beyond this lifetime (John 16:33).

We as viewers must recognize that it isn’t Rocky that gives us hope, but what Rocky reflects. It’s not any hero Sylvester Stallone has ever played that has given anyone hope; but what those characters stand for. They are metaphors. The characters aren’t real, they’re merely reflections. What are they reflecting?

THE GOD BEHIND THE CURTAIN

If Sly truly wrote characters based on what he never had in his father, and he wrote therapeutically and based on metaphors, then what he’s truly missing, deep down, is what God has been trying to shine through him all along. And what he seems reticent to, and distant from admitting is this: God did all the work behind the scenes. This life will pass away. The only reason Sly is able to recognize the value in keeping his family close is because God revealed it to remind him that film isn’t a replacement for a relationship with Christ. It’s up to people, or to Stallone in this particular case, to put two-and-two together and find Jesus as the answer.

FINDING PEACE WITHOUT A FIGHT

Trying to heal a father wound with the world will never resolve anything. Writing characters based on a father we missed out on doesn’t bring that father back. Acting doesn’t fix what’s broken in real life. Jesus is the only way to God, not any movie, character, or form of entertainment. We don’t purchase peace with violence, we’re discover peace by accepting what God has already provided us, and receiving Jesus as Lord with a humble, contrite, joyful heart. It’s then, and only then, that the wound heals. I hope and pray Sylvester Stallone finds his way not only to being healed of a deep wound, but also that he learns the joy of faith in Christ. Rather than turning to the world to learn wisdom and seek joy, we can learn from the wisdom taught in Scripture by seeking God.

GOD IS READY, ARE YOU?

Sly as a film is a wonderful piece of entertainment that brings to our attention the way Sly views himself, the trouble he’s found himself in with his history of storytelling and family trauma, and a reminder to those of us who consider ourselves Christ-followers, never to turn to the world to cope with the tragedies of a fallen world. Get on your knees, open the Bible, humble yourself; pray.

God is ready for the heart that seeks. Don’t wait for tomorrow, do it now.

Photo by Venti Views on Unsplash