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By Steve Beard Novelist Nicholas Sparks knows how to keep the tissue manufacturers in business. If you read hanky-wringers, you will recognize him as the author behind movies such as A Walk to Remember and Message in a Bottle. His fans will be eagerly awaiting his latest novel-turned-movie, The Notebook. Yep, bring the Kleenex.
The Notebook portrays their can't-keep-our-hands-off-each-other summer romance. It is red-hot teenage infatuation that peels the paint-that is, until family meddling and World War II tear the young couple asunder. Noah and Allie's fairy tale romance is read aloud each day by a man (James Garner) who comes to visit an Alzheimer's patient (Gena Rowlands) in a nursing home. Each visit reveals more of the combustible love story as he faithfully reads to her. We see the way that she engages the story as if it was familiar, battling the ruthless effects of Alzheimer's Disease. The day after I saw The Notebook in Los Angeles, I watched the funeral for President Ronald Reagan when he was being laid to rest in Southern California. Three of his children spoke affectionately of their dad, a man that the rest of us knew as the President of the United States. While most of the eulogies during that week had touched upon the romance of Ron and Nancy Reagan, perhaps one of the most moving movements occurred when Patti Davis, their daughter, described his final day: "He opened his eyes, eyes that had not opened for many, many days, and looked at my mother. He showed us that neither disease nor death can conquer love." If you had to sum up the theme of The Notebook in a phrase, it would be that last sentence. Hipper-than-thou movie critics are going to call it sappy, sentimental, and unrealistic. Ignore them. You will not find a more jaundiced crowd than movie critics. The movie is about enduring and passionate love that burns brightly with flames at the outset and ends up graduating to white-hot coals that last a lifetime. There is an everlastingness about it, a certain mysticism, an unmistakable magnetism, and an undying attraction that carries on to the exit gate of life. For 23-year-old actor Ryan Gosling who plays Noah, the movie carried with it a fantastical element. "I felt like it was kind of a fairy tale, but an interesting one," he said. "I don't know anyone who has necessarily had a romance quite like this." On the other hand, at age 76, veteran actor James Garner ("8 Simple Rules," "The Rockford Files") knows a thing or two about it. He proudly reports that he has been married to the same woman for 48 years. When I tell him about Gosling's point of view, Garner responds, "I don't see it like that at all. No, I see it as true to life." When asked for any advise on how to make love work, he said: "I think the main thing about people, husbands and wives, is that they have to give the other person respect--their feelings, and what they want. And I have always tried not to do anything that would embarrass my wife. And she does the same." Garner continued, "I think that it is respect for the other person. And after you live with someone for a while, that love has grown into something else other than that physical urge. It has grown into companionship. What Noah and Allie have was that enduring kind of love and it consumed them." After the male perspectives, I was most interested in hearing from the other side of the aisle. When I asked Rachel McAdams what drew her to the script, she said, "It's just a grand love story. I say 'just' very lightly. If you can find a good love that will last that long, you've got the key." When asked if the movie was true to life or a fairy tale, she said, "I believe this because my parents have it. I grew up in a house with two people who love each other very much and still do," she said. "It is so great to watch them grow old together.…They know they've got it and they are not going to let it go. It is kind of a curse, because I won't settle for less." For author Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook was not a romantic fantasy created by his novelist's imagination. In fact, the story was inspired by a visit with his wife's elderly grandparents who grew old in love. In an age of "hooking up" and hollow commitments, this movie portrays the kind of affection and longsuffering that marked the enduring relationships of a previous generation. Till death do us part, indeed! Steve Beard is the founder of Thunderstruck.org. |
Set
in North Carolina in the 1940s, the story draws us into the lives
of two young lovers from different sides of the track. Gorgeous Allie
Hamilton (Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls) is a pampered debutante
with a wealthy daddy and an overprotective momma. One night at the
county fair, she meets up with Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling, Remember
the Titans), a mill worker who lives simply and loves extravagantly.
He senses the destiny of a lifetime together, she thinks he is crazy.
Nevertheless, Allie is wooed by Noah's charm.