Converting a true story of love and innocence into a tale for a broad audience sometimes can move such an audience to tears. It can pose identifiable aspects of passion and deceit, so much so that it can be one of the most profound films of our day.
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In Love and War At Showcase and Briarwood |
Take the Ernest Hemingway story, "In Love and War," in which the love felt by one of America's foremost writers is mangled and tried against the odds. He has expectations that only precede an immense downfall, and like Hemingway, we are disappointed in the course of events that transpire.
The difference, however, is the emotion in which the story is told and that in which it is perceived. We travel through Europe during World War I from not only the eyes of a young and bewildered newspaper writer, but also those of a nurse whose concepts of life are far ahead of her time. Hemingway (Chris O'Donnell) arrives in Italy with the Red Cross only as a morale booster for the Italian regime. He has idealistic principles that make him hunger for the front lines of World War I. The truth that no preconceived notions have ever fully matched realistic outcomes never phases his soul.
He is vulnerable to war's greatest pains, and acts without logical thinking. It is obvious that Hemingway looks for trouble, but it's the kind of distress that stems from a big heart that overwhelms reasoning. The debonair and innocent-looking Chris O'Donnell has the perfect facial expressions to fit the mood, and his excitement matches the naive notions of an American dreamer, but his personality does not quite seem to parallel Hemingway.
Before our young soldier even encounters trouble, we know that he is bound for disappointment. Perhaps this is one of the film's greatest setbacks. Depending, too, on one's knowledge of Hemingway and his life, the details and characters are almost disappointing. It is highly anticipated emotion that is never developed and never understood. It is missing the magic that accompanies the story of love it aims to explore.
When Hemingway is wounded while investigating and befriending Italian front line soldiers, he finds himself at the helm of Agnes von Kurowsky (Sandra Bullock), an American nurse transferred to an Italian war hospital. Upon first sight, Hemingway falls in love, or so he says, and before we know it he has proposed marriage. The thought that Bullock proposed in "Speed," of whether relationships created in traumatic situations can last, crosses our mind as the plot unfolds.
The dynamics between Ernie and Aggs is nothing spectacular. He was in the hospital for what seemed like an eternity, and the entire time, it's hardly as if she gave him the time of day. She was the eye of many a man's affection: Hemingway, his pal Henry Villard (Mackenzie Astin), and a suave Italian doctor named Domenico Caracciolo (Emilio Bonucci).
Whether or not Agnes was as lofty as she was portrayed is a mere facet of history. The lack of continuous compassion between all of the characters hinders the film's success and makes its emotions like a rollercoaster that constantly varies.
The story itself has great potential, and that it is based on truth rather than fiction eliminates the fantastic elements that embellishes average tales of woe. One of the film's redeeming qualities, however, lies in knowing that what occurred on the screen did at one point actually occur in the past. It was based on the novel "Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes von Kurowsky," written by Hemingway's lifetime pal, Henry S. Villard, and James Nagel.
Bullock is classy as the savvy Agnes but class and emotion do not always go together. She is the heart of the story, and her confusion creates its demise.
"In Love and War" has the potential to be a great tear-jerker, but it never explains the characters enough to build up the water supply. The base for the story is interesting and enjoyable, but by the time we are acquainted with the actors, someone leaves and the film is over. It is a realistic story that is a regular story of love; it is highly anticipated and never fully meets expectations.
"In Love and War" stars Sandra Bullock and Chris O'Donnell smooch.