The Proposal

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2012)

This movie starts out with a very rough professional relationship between two people. Both of them are not truly happy in their lives but they feel they are doing what they need to in order to succeed in life. They have good jobs, they are young, they are good looking. But as the movie progresses they run into a few problems, the main lead woman (Margaret) is told that she won't be able to have her job anymore because she is Canadian and her visa in order to work in the United States was denied. She then convinces her assistant (Andrew) to marry her in order to keep her job and therefore her happiness. Andrew agrees to do this only because she has threatened to take his job away if he does not help her. They go away for the weekend in order to tell Andrew's parents that they are getting married. The over arching theme of the weekend and therefore the movie is that in order to find true purpose in life you must find your significant other. The people in your life are the things that make life worthwhile, they make it worth doing anything, being in a certain job, loving someone that's in your life.
God is not a part of family; He is not even a part of the movie. He does not get mentioned at all, the wedding that takes place does not happen in a church instead it happens in a barn. The only thing that is spiritual is the thanking of the "spirits" which is not taken seriously. It is given in a very comical light; the grandmother who is thanking the spirits is shown in a very humorous view. The only authority that is expressed within the movie is that of people and most of those that are in authority are expressed as unintelligent or uncaring. The only gods in this movie are money and self. The money is expressed through the success that the people try to attain through their jobs. The self is expressed in pretty much everything else that is happening, it is all about how does it make me feel what are the emotions that I am going through, what kind of emotions do others make me feel. The media part of this movie has a couple of mixed messages. It does not give any value to God and what God's part in our lives is. He is not the authority He is not what gives us hope or a future through this movie. We only need to find the one that is going to love us for the rest of our lives; that should be our goal. We need to find love in those around them instead of in a relationship with God the Father.
This movie is good art in my opinion. It has good technical excellence; it was well done with good acting and good writing of the script. The story is valid, there are a few stretching details that would be a little hard to believe at times but at the same time they could happen. The content is solid, it's a good story line and something that someone can get very easily caught up in. I find that this movie is good entertainment although we need to be careful about who we watch it with and what parts people are exposed to. There is one scene that is inappropriate for someone young and to be honest it's a bit inappropriate for anyone. It is very funny but at the same time it is two naked people to say it bluntly. The pair is completely nude, and the camera captures all but the most sensitive regions of their bodies throughout the scene. In essence, the filmmakers show us everything, while not showing quite everything. Because of this I'm not sure I would be able to endorse the entire movie, especially without some reservations. I found that the love that Andrew and Margaret have for each other is completely unselfish. This is the kind of love that we should be having for one another. I would be able to put that into perspective and instead of two humans loving each other it would be God loving us. The love that He has for us is perfect and although sometimes the love that others have is self seeking we would never have to worry about that with Christ's love.