It's my Only Hope

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 2005)

This has always been one of my favorite movies of all time. As a hopeless romantic, sappy does me in. But there was something more about this movie. It wasn't sappy. It was all mushy gooshy that-would-never-happen kind of thing. It was real. It felt real. It was moving and powerful. It makes you want to appreciate life a little more. The casting was perfect. Mandy Moore shined as Jamie, the quiet, intelligent, hard-working but unsocial minister's daughter who doesn't care what anyone else thinks about her. Shane West was a perfect Landon, making the smooth transition from Bad-boy of the school, to the sweet and sensitive love of Jamie's life. It seemed like the perfect story for Jamie to turn Landon into a man strong in faith and values. She is his inspiration and guide. She teaches him how to live life to the fullest and see things in the proper light. If only. Just as Landon begins to see that Jamie is his "Only Hope" he learns a gut-wrenching secret. The strong, loving, caring, sweet, intelligent love of his life is dying. In a race against time, Landon is determined to find his place in the world and his place with Jamie. He shows her the world. Tries to make all of her dreams come true. And if the thought of being with her the rest of his life strengthened his faith, then the thought of being without her made it even stronger. Although this movie is very different from the Novel written by Nicholas Sparks, it does have some advantages. The setting in the Nick Sparks book is 1956. The more modern setting of A Walk to Remember made the story more understandable for the younger generations as well as the young high-school love. The list that Jamie makes of all her hopes and dreams isn't in the Novel either, but it's a good way to show the gestures Landon made to help Jamie with her dreams. The play was written into the novel, but the play was a Christmas Play and she was an angel. In the film, the Play becomes a musical when Jamie sings "Only Hope." Although Jamie is not musical in the novel, it gives a nice touch of a sweet girl who has talents just like anyone else, but chooses to use them in different ways. Overall, this movie is incredible. There is not one thing I would change about it. It's completely powerful and moving. Touching anyone who will watch it, and changing them forever.