DECEIVINGLY DELIGHTFUL - THAT GERE MOVIE

Posted on April 16, 2009

My wife and I recently watched the movie, Nights in Rodanthe, starring Richard Gere.  The movie has all the elements of a feel-good flick: invigorating sunrises; strolls on the beach; wild horses; candlelight dinners; a hero's death; the absolute best love letters; and the dramatic transformation of a hard-heart that takes place in an instant.
 
The delightful, although deceitful, plot captured our imaginations.  In reflection, there was a lot of screwed-up stuff going on, but it felt so right as the plot unfolded.
 
Here is this wife, and mother of two, whose once adulterous husband has repented.  He's truly changed and wants to reconcile.
 
The wife goes to the beach where she falls in love, during the course of a few days, with a hard-nosed, arrogant, self-serving, but charming doctor.  Guess what?  They, within two days, jump in the sack.  The power of her love-making and persuasion, singlehandedly, transforms his attitude toward his work, his estranged son, and the troublesome husband of a dead patient.  Well, jeepers!  She changed his entire attitude on all of life - and all in just a day or two at the beach.  This was some kind of woman!
 
The woman, who prior to sleeping with the doctor, was considering reconciling with her husband.  Reconciliation of mom and dad was the desire of both her teen-age daughter and adolescent son.  But the changed ways of the handsome, suave doc persevered to convince her to dump the good husband and wait on something to work out between her and the doc.
 
The movie even has the daughter coming around at the end of the movie to finally embrace the romantic notion of the two lovebirds.
 
Ah, the good feelings that bubbled up within me….that is, until the stark reality hit home that this dumb plot pulled at the ole heart strings:
No one can change someone else's attitudes on life in just a few days at the beach - only Christ can transform the human heart.
Children are forever scarred by broken homes.  If for no other reason than for the sake of the kids, the woman should have at least tried to make a go of it with the father of her children.
Real love takes time to develop.  The other is mere "lust at first sight".  The great sex undergirding such a relationship will wear off in a matter of a short time.

You now could be asking why I even bother to critique this feel-good flick.  After all, it is just a movie, to provide a little escapism.  I mean, there is nothing harmful with a little fantasy sometimes.
 
Here's the reason.  We, as Christians, can unconsciously be duped into being overly cozy with the world's thinking when we consistently fill our minds (with very little filtering) with the world's viewpoint via movies, music, media, etc.  I find that it is so easy to allow that to happen (Colossians 2:8), unless we are constantly paying attention.
 
On the other hand - truth and real love - which have eternal values, require constant vigilance.  But there is an immense pay-off to the harder path -- long-lasting, warm-fuzzy, and intimate relationships that grow deeper with those around us as the years roll by.
 
www.menwhowin.com - for my eight minute radio shows about how some men win in the things of life that count.

---

The 'John Adams' Movie I Watched Twice
by Gary Chester
 
I rarely watch the same movie twice.  But, the HBO seven part series, John Adams, was an exception.  Both my wife and I thought the drama (2008), based on American Revolution history, was as compelling of a historical presentation as any that we have watched.
 
If you combined watching the HBO series with viewing the superb PBS piece John and Abigail, you'll have a real glimpse into the lives of this founding father and his wife, who served as his only political confidant when he was president.
 
(You may want to fast forward through a breast surgery scene that, in my view, was unnecessarily gruesome.)





Go back