= I want us to love each other
Reviewer: The Rebecca Review.com
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by
the things you did not do than those you did do. So throw off
the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade
winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Give yourself
away to the sea of life.” –Mark Twain
Katie (Barbra Streisand) and Hubbell (Robert Redford) could
not be more different. She is an “anti-war” activist, while
he is content to write novels and observe life from a distance.
When life throws them together at college for the first time,
they barely notice one another. Then when Katie finds Hubbell in
a club, she uses all her feminine wiles to entice him back into
her world. Hubbell seems slightly impressed that she loves his
writing and that she has even gone to the trouble to find a copy
of his book.
Katie and Hubbell are truly opposites and that is the
attraction. It is the whole “liberal” falls for
“conservative” story. It is also the
“woman-loves-man-more-than-man-loves-woman tragedy.” While
men are attracted to complex women at times, they often just
want someone who is easy going and who can help them find that
place of “nothingness.” Katie is just “everything.” She
wants “everything” and to be “everything.” She wants to
save the world from impending doom.
Katie only sees the need for “world peace” without
considering that the freedoms and relative peace she has were
the result of wars and sacrifice. She seems to be living in a
dream world where everyone loves one another and is happy and
equal. She has a very shallow view of communism. Katie lives
life as if it is a life-and-death struggle. The needs of the
planet come before her romantic interests. She also doesn’t
realize you are not supposed to drink and smoke while pregnant.
There is a way to ruin a child’s life!
Hubbell almost seems jaded in some ways. He seems to have
observed the world and decided it isn’t going to change
anytime soon, so why not enjoy life before it passes you by.
Life is easier for him. He doesn’t seem to be fighting life.
The way Katie thinks frustrates him, amuses him and eventually
exasperates him. All he wants is just to find pleasure and she
is always on the hunt for the better life. She pushes him to the
edge of himself. He really just wants a woman who will enjoy
life with him.
There is a scene, wow, how can I say it? Poignant doesn’t
do it justice. It isn’t really emotionally intense because it
is more of a picture of resolve. It is just an incredible scene
where Katie calls Hubbell and asks him to come over and talk to
her because he is her best friend and she needs to talk to him
about her break up. Of course, they have just broken up and he
is her best friend. So, it makes it a very difficult situation.
Imagine losing the person you can talk to about anything and
someone who you love the most in the world.
The beauty of this movie is in the struggle. Politics aside,
this story has enough romance to keep your attention. This is
probably a movie that will make a lot more sense while watching
it during a war. Especially with what went on at the Academy
Awards. At times you have to wonder at the irony of needing war
to keep the peace. Ideally we all want peace, but I’ve always
thought that was a dream world. Is Utopia really possible in
this life? Still, humans are allowed to dream.
If I had the choice between watching people suffer under a
tyrant and believing the world was at peace because there
wasn’t a war OR watching people attain freedom and knowing it
was because of a war and sacrifice, I’d choose “freedom.”
Freedom is not free. Saying you want peace, makes “you” look
good, but it doesn’t do a darn thing for someone who doesn’t
have the freedom even to voice their opinions. I think the real
heroes are those men and women who go and set people free from
the bondage of their tyrannical governments.
Katie and Hubbell do seem to find peace in the end even if
they don’t save the world. What a pity they can’t save their
own world. What they share has such beauty and freedom. Hubbell
really does learn to allow Katie just to say what she wants to
say and be who she was born to be. Unfortunately, she is a bit
intense.
Romantic and Tragic. Maybe some people are only supposed to
love each other for a short time even though you wish they could
be best friends or partners for life.
If you enjoy this movie,
you might also enjoy:
Out
Of Africa |
