The Ending Of Devotion Explained

Based on the incredible true story of Ensign Jesse Brown and Lieutenant Tom Hudner, "Devotion" tells the story of the first Black aviator in the U.S. Navy and the camaraderie he shared with his wingman in the Korean War. "Devotion" stars an incredible cast, including Jonathan Majors of "Lovecraft Country" and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" as Jesse Brown. Glen Powell, fresh off of "Top Gun: Maverick," plays Brown's wingman and eventual friend Lieutenant Tom Hudner. 

While "Devotion" is a bit of slow burn, its emotional narrative is rich with themes of prejudice and allyship. Powell felt particularly passionate about bringing the story to the screen, serving as not only star but executive producer. As Powell told Variety, he read Adam Makos' book, "Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice," and felt that the story was destined for the big screen. "Reading it, I remember thinking that it was incredible that I'd never heard this story before," he recalled. "It felt like when I read 'Hidden Figures' for the first time and was like, 'Is this actually true? This is incredible, why haven't I heard it before?'"

Since "Devotion" is a period film, audiences are treated to a peek into 1950s Cannes and even a few scenes with a young Elizabeth Taylor (Serinda Swan). The particular racist attitudes of the time are depicted, though "Devotion" is unique in how it deals with them. Rather than explicitly showing bigoted encounters on screen, the filmmakers have instead opted for Brown to recount his shocking experiences to the audience from his own perspective. Let's take a look at how "Devotion" ends, and what we can learn from the story of Brown and Hudner.

Glen Powell stars as Tom Hudner, Jesse Brown's fellow pilot and friend in "Devotion." Powell is no stranger to period dramas, having portrayed John Glenn in 2016's "Hidden Figures." Although Hudner and Brown eventually become friends, Hudner unintentionally creates issues for Brown early in their relationship. When Brown disobeys an order and takes down a bridge in Korea, Hudner puts the incident in his report, endangering Brown's career in the military. Hudner attempts to fix the situation, but Brown informs him that all he needs is for Hudner to be his wingman instead of using him to assuage his white guilt.

After Brown crashes, Hudner circles the crash site, trying to give him verbal instructions on how to escape the downed plane. Once it becomes apparent that Brown is trapped in the cockpit, Hudner deliberately crashes his own plane and attempts to free him, even taking an ax to the side of the aircraft. Ultimately, though, Hudner has to leave the site, knowing that with Brown's injuries, he won't survive. 

The final scenes of "Devotion" show Hudner receiving the Medal of Honor for his rescue attempt. In their final conversation together, Hudner tells Daisy Brown that he feels guilty he wasn't able to save her husband or even bring back his body — a regret that we learn will stay with him for the rest of his life.

The friendship between Brown and Hudner is undoubtedly the heart of the film. During their time together, Hudner often sticks up for Brown and tries to shut up the other men when they make inappropriate and racist remarks toward him. Although Hudner has a lot to learn about allyship and how to be a friend to Brown, his final actions at the end of the film, deliberately crashing his plane and trying to save Brown, demonstrate the closeness of their relationship.

In an interview with Variety, Powell was asked why he connected with the story of "Devotion" enough to sign on as both star and producer. He answered that it was the film's central narrative of friendship that he found most compelling. "I remember thinking about how people seem to be passive in terms of the way they're friends," Powell explained. "You're not putting skin in the game. You support them to a degree, but it only goes so far. So it was kind of on my head and heart, this idea of how to be a great friend."

Since the friendship between Hudner and Brown must deal with race and the inequalities over how they're treated within the unit, Powell felt that "Devotion" exemplified this issue. "I felt very uncomfortable in the fact that I wanted to be a friend, and I wanted to be an ally, and I didn't know what was being perceived as being real, or what was being perceived as obligatory." Part of being a friend to Brown means that Hudner must learn to "jump in the water" and actually stand by his friend. Crashing his plane and physically rushing over to try and pull Brown from the wreckage exemplifies this. 

As a military film, it's no surprise that "Devotion" deals with the idea of heroism versus duty. "Devotion" examines this conflict throughout the film, particularly when Brown ignores an order and rushes back to the bridge to blow it up, thereby completing a mission specifically through disobedience. This yields consequences for Brown when he's reprimanded for his actions after Hudner relates what happened in his report. Is Brown a hero for completing the mission, even though he disobeyed orders to do it? Should Hudner have reported the infraction, even though the consequences for Brown would be higher than for the others in the unit?

As Brown and Hudner argue about the incident in the barracks, we see the complexity inherent in the situation rising to the surface. The mission was complicated and Brown was able to destroy the bridge quickly and safely, even if he did disobey an order. And Hudner realizes that he's created problems for Brown that he never even considered. As Brown does everything he can to be respected for his skills as a pilot, he struggles to find his place within the unit. However, for Black servicemen serving aboard their aircraft carrier, Brown is already a hero. Hudner, on the other hand, must come to grips with the fact that he's considered a hero for trying to save Brown, despite his inability to do so. 

For Jonathan Majors, this push and pull between heroism and responsibility, duty and blame, is key to the movie's meaning. As the actor told IndieWire, "We're talking about the relationship between Jesse and Tom and what that did for race relations within America ... This is a piece for the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner are men of the people."  

While "Devotion" shows off the incredible fortitude and talent of Jesse Brown, it's also about Hudner's own difficulties in understanding the true toll of racism and how to be a better ally to his friend. For Powell, "Devotion" was an important film since it stayed away from the "white savior" narrative (particularly when Brown scolds Hudner for looking down on him in his effort to help) and focused instead on friendship and allyship. Powell told Variety that he wanted "Devotion" to deal with racial issues still being felt throughout America. "When I read this, I thought it felt unbelievably timeless," he explained, "especially as we are going kind of through this weird moment as a country where we're trying to define who we are in the greater picture of things."

Powell also had the unique opportunity to meet with the real Tom Hudner before his death in 2017 (via Cinema Daily). He promised Hudner that he'd do his best to ensure that the amazing story of Hudner and Brown was correctly told. These promises meant that Powell felt intense pressure in how he'd portray this real-life character. As he told Variety, "I'd never been so immersed in an experience in my whole life. And I don't know if I ever will. I mean, this is four years of truly feeling like I was with that man spiritually." Powell even reported that he's stayed in contact with Hudner's family since finishing work on the film.

As much as the idea of a fighter pilot deliberately crashing his plane to rescue his friend feels like a Hollywood movie, surprisingly, the dramatic events between Tom Hudner and Jesse Brown did happen in real life. Brown was an outstanding pilot who passed his rigorous Navy training with flying colors and was even profiled by Life magazine, just like in the film.

In fact, when Brown's plane went down and Hudner realized his wingman was trapped in the cockpit, their commanding officer told him not to attempt to land, saying, "If a plane goes down, that's one down. We don't need Hollywood stuff" (via Naval History and Heritage Command). Hollywood stuff it was, though. Even Brown's last words in the film are historically correct, as he told Hudner to tell Daisy how much he loved her. 

Powell talked about how overwhelmingly significant it was to meet the real Tom Hudner. "I really got to look the man in the eyes and understand who Tom was," he told Deadline. "I got to see an entire room in his house that was all of the remnants and reminders of an event that happened in December of 1950." Though as Powell learned, "It wasn't a celebration, it was a constant reminder of a friend he lost and I carried that weight into this role." During their time together, Powell promised Tom Hudner that he would do everything in his power to carry forward his legacy and that of Jesse Brown (via Cinema Daily).