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In Love and WarRating:
Release Date: 03 February, 2004 Retail Price: $9.98 OUR Price: $8.99 You SAVE: $0.99! Cast: Complete Cast (5 total) |
In Love and War Reviews
Destined for Failure
Despite many of the reviews, I think this is quite a nice piece. It is a sad love story based upon the first love of Ernest Hemmingway.
Chris O'Donnell plays the young Hemmingway as a young American adventurer seeking excitement in northern Italy during the end of the first world war as a corpsman. He would rather be a soldier but he is too young and did not make it through the physical so he signs up for the Red Cross. While seeking excitement up on the battle line when he is supposed to be serving coffee behind the lines, he distinguishes himself by heroism as the trench is overrun and is wounded in the process. That brings him to a hospital where he meets the nurse who enraptures him.
Sandra Bullock plays the nurse. She is competent, caring and considers herself too old for the young Hemmingway. Still, she is attracted to him and fights a losing battle against his "charm". Meanwhile, just about everyone else wants her attentions as well. She finds herself being torn in differing directions by her heart on the one hand and her intellect on the other.
What makes this film difficult is that Sandra's character of the nurse is a very likeable person. O'Donnell's Hemmingway manages to be likeable as well except when his arrogance and vanity get in the way; I'm talking about Hemmingway's, not O'Donnell's. You get through this film thinking that she is just too good for him and that he doesn't deserve her. You also get a bit angry at her treatment of him at some points.
Love stories have to have a bit of conflict to make them interesting. This one has more than it's share. For that reason, the romance seems to be one destined for failure.
A romantic/emotional roller coaster
Why some have condemned this movie for the lack of story line, I praise what factual information they were able to find although there was never any final meeting between Hemmingway and Agnes. All correspondence was done through letters between them after Hemmingway went home from the war and little is known of the letters Hemmingway wrote Angus since a later boyfriend of Angus destroyed all of Hemmingway's letters in a jealous rage. If there was in final face to face meeting, both their lives may have very different. More than likely the two would have continued far different lives together. Hemmingway may have never gone on to become the great writer he was and Agnes would have never continued her nursing career that she seemed much more married to, or a European whirlwind romance may have faded into the first of the many failed marriages Hemmingway went through.
Although a bit contrived from reality; the story line does make an impact emotionally.
In my opinion though Sir Richard Attenborough should have had his lead actors at least read A Farewell to Arms before attempting their roles. It might have helped out with acting that was a little flat and emotionless at times like they didn't have enough material on the original characters and were trying to ad lib. Still it's very much worthwhile watching this sometimes fictional account of a young Hemmingway and his first and lost love.
More Customer Reviews (15 total)
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