Today, I'm talking about The Vow.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: (Copied from a Christian Book site)
When you marry another person, you make a vow to love and cherish your spouse through thick and thin, as long as you both shall live. But what if that commitment is tested by serious illness, or financial difficulty? Would you stay together? Are there limits on how far love can go?
Kim and Krickitt Carpenter never expected their commitment to each other to be tested so early, when 2 months after their wedding, a car accident left Krickett with a traumatic head injury and in a coma. When she awoke several weeks later, her rehabilitation began, but Krickitt had no memory of her husband. The previous 18 months when they had met, fallen in love, and been married were completely erased. Kim and Krickitt had to start all over again with the stress of physical rehabilitation, mounting medical bills and amnesia against them.
In The Vow, the Carpenters share their story of how, against enormous odds, they stuck together, fell in love again, and kept the marriage vows they'd made to each other. They also share their Christian faith, and how it sustained them through their most difficult times. In this volume, you'll read about the true events that inspired the February 2012 movie starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, and see personal photos from Kim and Krickitt.
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I saw this movie on Valentine's Day. The first Valentine's Day I ever remember crying my eyes out--thank you very much! But to think that two people could actually beat these odds and fall in love all over again is just amazing. What a powerful love story! I can't even imagine what this had to be like for them, but their faith is what got them through.
From what I've heard and read, in real life, Krickett, who's known as Paige in the film, has never regained those 18 months of memory from when she first met Kim including the two months they were married. These two met and fell madly in love, and ultimately rushed off on the spur of the moment to get married at City Hall. The accident happened two months after they were married. In the film they were at a stop street in a snow storm; she takes her seat belt off so she can kiss her husband, and a municipal snow plow slams right into the back of their car and she flies through the windshield. It's hard to imagine the driver continues driving away. Maybe it was one of those 'no parking' sides of the street, but to drive away without checking? Seriously?
THE BOOK: The book chronicles Kim and Krickitt's life together and begins with their first meeting, their first wedding, and covers their struggles after the accident. When it becomes apparent those 18 months of Krickitt's memory is forever altered, Kim, the husband, is determined to win her love back again.
The night of the accident, Krickett is in critical condition. The doctors don't think she'll make it through the night and as a result they refuse to fly her to a properly equipped hospital. Wish I knew who that was because I'd avoid him like the plague.
Together with their families, they take this journey and believe their strong faith will see them through this nightmare and it eventually does.
THE MOVIE: Admittedly, the movie did not capture the essence of the struggle this couple went through, nor did they show the deep Christian faith they had. Creative licensing--politically correctness? You decide. Somehow though, I sensed their faith, maybe not to the degree, but it was there if you looked for it. The other thing missing was how her injuries were downplayed. We see the tragic accident happen--she's in the hospital, and shortly after the scene flips to her sitting up in bed, her parents standing beside her and she's smiling. You don't see her struggling. I suppose if they had shown all that, it would have had you blubbering all the way through instead of halfway through. But I can attest to crying much more from reading the book. The pages are warped from my tears, and Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. is richer today because I used a whole box of tissues.
The husband's determination to bring her back--to help her regain that deep seated love she felt before melts your heart. The lines they both say really kept me digging deeper.
“I will find my way back to you.” Paige says.
“You did it once, you can do it again!” Leo says
At the end when Paige says, “thank you for always accepting me!” After all the hoops this guy has jumped through to win her back, that's it right there, folks, the whole enchilada. He accepted everything she was dishing out while he struggled to maintain a positive attitude, ultimately accepting his fate and gave up, but when she realized what she'd have with a man like him, she sought him out.
This movie stars two of my favorite characters, Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, and it packs a huge punch! I don't know about you, but I always love seeing which actors will portray the lead characters in a book on screen, and then I complain because they aren't who I pictured. LOL In this case though, I think Rachel and Channing were the perfect match.
I've also drawn a second conclusion from seeing the film first, I'm going to continue to read the book afterward so I won't be disappointed in the film, but it will bring these characters back to life. Ultimately, despite the changes in the film the basic, most important part of the story was there.
Fourteen years after the Carpenters actually signed the rights to the book over, they were able to visit the movie set during filming. To quote Kim Carpenter from the book, "Though many changes were made, as is typically the case when true events are adapted for the silver screen, the basic framework was still in place and Krickitt and I felt it to be an excellent portrayal of the message of our story."
Does it get any better than this? What would you do if this happened to you? Do you think you could handle it and continue to find ways to make it happen, or do you think you'd give up?
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