Yes, when it comes to movies, I am a total girl. I do NOT like horror movies, and I'm not terribly fond of action movies, although I do watch them because I know my husband doesn't always want to watch sappy love stories, either, but he's a great sport and at least acts interested. I still have not figured out whether he truly likes some of them, or if he is THAT good of an actor. :) When given the choice, I will choose a sickening, make-you-cry, girly movie hands down. I love them! Some of them are uplifting with someone over-coming a great tragedy or handicap. Some of them are depressing, though, and yet, I still love them. Does that make me weird?
I decided to think about my all-time favorite tear-jerker movies, and explain why I love them so much. :)
1. The Notebook - Nicolas Sparks is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of his books, made into a movie. I love this movie for the full range of emotion I feel when I watch it. I feel sad for the main female character when it flashes back to her growing up. She falls in love, but the boy she falls in love with is not well-to-do as her family is, so her mother does not approve of him. I feel scared when the same lead female character develops alzheimer's when she is old. It's scary, because it's something that happens. I can not imagine not being able to recognize my husband and children, or for my husband not to recognize me. I can feel the true love felt by her husband as he reads her a story each day, hoping it will help her remember, for that story he reads, is the story of their love for each other. I can only hope that when my husband and I are old, we still feel that much love for each other.
2. Steel Magnolias - Julia Roberts is the main character who the storyline surrounds. She has diabetes, and her doctor has suggested that it is wise for her and her husband to have children, as her body may not be able to take it. They decide against taking the doctor's advice, and her mother, played by Sally Field, is not happy, to say the least. She does not understand why her daughter would not heed her doctor's warning, risking her own life. Her daughter's response make me cry every time. She says, "I would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful, than a lifetime of nothing special." Oh, gush, there go the waterworks. :)
3. Pay it Forward - Such a great storyline! A school student comes up with an idea of how to make the world a better place - by paying it forward. If one person goes out and does something nice for 3 other people, and those three people do something nice for 3 others, and so on, everyone will eventually be doing nice things for everyone else. However, when the boy who came up with this idea is killed at the end of the movie, I just lose it. How is that fair? Why does someone who is trying to make the world a better place for everyone, the one who loses his life? One of life's mysteries that I have trouble with, anyway.
4. Love Story - A boy and girl, Oliver and Jenny, fall in love in college, and after graduating decide to get married, against the wishes of Oliver's father. Because the get married anyway, Oliver's father cuts all ties with his son. The couple struggle for awhile, financially, as Oliver attends law school. When he graduates, he gets a job with a law firm in New York, and Oliver and Jenny decide to start a family. Unfortunately, they are unable to get pregnant, so they see a doctor. The doctor informs Oliver that his wife is very sick and will die. She has leukemia. Oliver decides not to tell Jenny because he just wants them to be able to live their lives like a normal couple would. Jenny ends up confronting her doctor and finds out she has cancer, and so she begins very expensive cancer treatment. Oliver can not pay for all the medical bills, and decides to ask his father for money, which his father assumes is because Oliver got some girl pregnant and wants to pay for an abortion. Oliver just lets his father believe that instead of telling his father what is really going on. Oliver and Jenny show such love for each other through the entire story. They are supportive of each other's hopes and dreams, and remain committed to each other through good and bad. Jenny passes away in her husband's arms in the hospital. The best line of the movie is yet to come though, as Oliver is leaving the hospital, he sees his father, who comes to apologize for the way he has treated his son. Oliver responds by saying, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Then he walks away. I can not imagine how difficult it must have been for Oliver and Jenny, first to not have the support of a parent, and then to have to go through Jenny's illness, and then finally, Oliver losing his wife. Flood of tears.
5. My Girl - A movie about Vada, a 10-year old girl, who is obsessed with death because she lives with her father in a funeral parlor. She never met her mother because she died when Vada was born. Thomas J. is Vada's best friend. He is allergic to everything, and Vada is a hypochondriac. The movie line follows Vada's life one-summer, when she learns a little more about life, love, and comes to terms with death in a way she never expected, when her best friend, Thomas J., dies from bee-stings, which he was allergic to. At the funeral, it seems that Vada i sin disbelief because she is crying and asking where Thomas J.'s glasses are because he can't see without his glasses. A good coming-of-age movie, with a sad, coming to terms with death, plot...gets me every time.
What are some of your favorite tear-jerkers?
"Crying relieves pressure on a soul." ~ Toba Beta
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