We first hear Jonathan Majors in Devotion before we see him, establishing the character’s idiosyncrasies. His Jesse Brown, the first Black aviator in U.S. Navy history, is muttering to himself inside the locker room, thinking he’s alone. Later on, that moment is expanded upon in a pivotal scene. Again he’s alone in the locker room, but this time he’s repeating all the racial expletives people have thrown at him. As the camera comes closer we see that he’s breathing sharply, tears coming out of his eyes and sweat from under his arms. Brown is trying to psych himself up before a mission. As the emotion plays on his face, Majors physically manifests the emotional turmoil his character’s going through. In a film where the battles and jet fighter planes should be the main attraction, it’s this moment that delivers the bombast, proving this is a, well, major actor whose star is rightfully on the rise. [Murtada Elfadl]
