I'll just tell you that you're gonna cry.

Rating: 10/10 (26 March 2014)

I have to say I'm usually not so fond of movies about of this sort, so when I decided to watch this one I'd had many prejudices already, but I also have to say I took everything back as soon as I started to sob like crazy at the end. Before watching it, I read the Nicholas Sparks' novel, which I couldn't enjoy at all. Too short periods, way too many breaths to take between a sentence and another. I don't like his style at all, and this is the only movie based on his works I've watched so far, but in all honesty it is worth watching. We are introduced by a blood-red view of a lake where someone is rowing a boat in the distance. In the background a nostalgic music plays as a flock of birds flies over and we see an old woman looking at this scene from a window. We soon get to know that she suffers from Alzheimer and she can't even remember her name anymore. Also, we get to know that a cheerful old man, Duke, reads for her every day, something that she can't remember as well. They are both taken care by the staff of a nursing home. The two of them spend their time together in the beautiful locations of such structure reading the story about two young people who fell in love in the summer of 1940 in Seabrook Island, South Carolina. Those two are Noah and Allie, a country boy and a very wealthy heiress from Charleston. If you decide to give a chance to this movie, you'll see how they fell in love despite of their social gape and how they will (obviously) get separated because of her parents, who consider their a mere summer love which can only bring trouble. Also, you will see how they got back together after seven years, after the war and other events had taken place. The last thing I'll tell you, is that Noah and Allie are indeed Duke and his fellow patient, who will decide to do something extremely beautiful and heartbreaking at the end. I'm honestly too lazy to spoil everything, because I'm not that interested to do so, even if what I just wrote might sound like the description of one of the cheapest dramas ever. I assure you it's not like that at all, and I assure you you're going to cry at the end, maybe not for half an hour straight as I always do. Maybe yes, who knows. At this point, I don't even know what to write anymore. I just love how beautiful, touching, gentle and sincere such a story is told. I can relate on a ridiculously high level to the hardships Noah and Allie went through, and this may be the real reason why I rated this movie as "excellent", which at some point is not even enough in my opinion. The couple during its last last act is pictured with simplicity, flawlessly: James Garner and Gena Rowlands are perfect, credible. They don't need to enrich their performances with any useless effort, they portray two people their same age with affection, letting us feel the love that have bounded them together for so many years. Same goes for Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams and the great work they did as the same couple, as young Noah and Allie who met during that summer that changed their life forever. We don't just watch them as they simply kiss and have fun: she slaps and hits him when they have a fight, they yell at each other, he tells her she's a pain in the ass most of the time. They cry, they experience what a breakup feels like, they try to move on and never forget about each other and they finally decide to spend their lives together despite of all the regrets they might have in the future. And then they will write the final lines of that book together, as they have always been. What we learn from The Notebook, is the all-time-classic fact that "true love never dies". Yes, that's it. It's not like there's any other deep meaning in this story, there is nothing else apart from that one simple quote that can summarize it in a better way. But there is something else underneath, a warmth, an assurance, a light caress that whispers us not to be sad in the end. It tells us to fight, to be strong and have some good determination and stubbornness to get what we really want, to keep loving even if in doing so we may encounter every toughest difficulty. I'm still uncomfortable with the rate I gave to this movie because there are few details that don't convince me, situations that may give false hope in real life because you can only talk about miracles in those moments, but every time I try to hold back my tears in front of the bright screen, any doubt just goes straight to hell. I'd suggest everyone to watch The Notebook. Those who have always loved to see how such stories can be portrayed will definitely fall for this one and I bet that even the most skeptical will reconsider their opinion about the genre. Again, I'm wondering if I should ponder my judgement a bit more and go for a 9 instead of a 10. This really makes me feel uneasy, but then the last scene flashes in front of my eyes and an affectionate "oh shut the hell up" from my inner self echoes in my head.