Hi all! It's been a good while since I bothered blogging. And no, this is not a 2023 reflection post. I kind of don't have the patience for all that at the moment. But, I did want to post a short review of a film I recently saw, if only because if I have any friends wondering if it's worth buying or renting, I can give them my honest opinion on it. Note, I've only seen this film once and not sure if I will watch it ever again.
The film in question is "I Heard the Bells", produced and distributed by Sight and Sound Films. The film is based on the true story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and how he wrote his poem (also a carol) "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". Longfellow wrote this poem in 1863, after his son Charles had been critically wounded in the Battle of New Hope Church. Longfellow was still grieving his wife's death in 1861, as a result of her dress catching fire. He himself was injured and scarred from the fire, and is the reason why he grew the beard we all recognize him for. He wrestles with the angels' message of "peace on earth, goodwill to men" while war, grief, and tragedy is all around him and in his own family. He pens the words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day", which as we probably all know, is later put to music and becomes a beloved Christmas carol (though hardly sung in our modern age, it seems).
Sounds like a great film, doesn't it? We see a man crippled (physically, spiritually, emotionally) by tragedy and grief, only to eventually pen words that convey such a hopeful message that they resound with us today. He wrestles with anger at God for letting these things happen to him, which is something I think we can all relate to.
Did I like it? Honestly, the answer is a big, fat, NO. I can tolerate some poorly written films if the overall message is well conveyed, but I couldn't honestly tell you what films that would be. I'm not sure if they just cast whoever in this film without auditioning any of them, but the film contained some of the worst acting I've seen in a good long while. The clunky drama and dialog didn't help with this at all. I'm convinced the writers have never watched a good film, and they seemed to rely heavily on Longfellow's poetry as a source for their dialogue. The story had such fantastic potential. It really did. I think it's important to convey these stories of suffering and hope, even if they occurred 100+ years ago. I would love to see a film adaptation of how "It Is Well" was written! But only if it's done so by a studio with decent writers, production, and actors. While I would rate this a 5 (on a scale of 1-5) for family friendliness and being clean, I would only give it maybe a 2 out of 5, if not less, for the overall story and quality.
The only parts I liked of the film were 2 quotes included in the opening and closing titles, and the arrangement of the song itself near the end (which started out with a modern solo arrangement and blended into a traditional congregational singing, showing an aged Longfellow in a church service with the congregation singing his poem). I think maybe the biggest disappointment of the film was the fact that I felt like the faith message was watered down to something sappy and shallow. I don't think that any film needs to showcase extreme violence or gore in order to drive home a point. But, life is ugly. War is uglier still. There was very little "mess" in a film whose very message is about finding hope within the ugliness and utter horror of every day life and situations. And while I know very little of Longfellow's personal life and faith, his hope (as illustrated in the film) seemed to be a little too simple and clean. The resolution of him writing the words we know so famously just seemed too easy. It seemed as if the solution presented is: have faith in God and everything will work itself out. Real faith, and subsequently, real life, is not wrapped so neatly, and I just think the film could have done a better job of showing how real humans deal with reconciling their faith with their everyday suffering and grief. I could probably expand on this quite a bit if I really wanted to, but I'm already rambling, so I'll cut it short.
Overall, this film left me disappointed. If you haven't seen it and are considering renting/purchasing it, please save your money. Or you can have my copy 😂.
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