Amor redentor

In any other world, Abigail Cowen would be nominated for an Oscar. It is a lot to ask for a young person to go from broken flower to lady.

And it is a story of redemption But alas, we are in Hollywood and therefore, they can't support a Christian story.

Boy, would they be surprised.

This movie is dark and ugly and has brutal realities (much like the bible, which we often forget is really horrifying).

A young girl is sold to a pimp and is broken and emotionally empty who then finds a kindly farmer who shows her the path to a decent life.

Yes, the Academy doesn't recognize this inspiring story unless a heathen makes it. Or the industry that hides sex traffickers.

Here, it's directed by D. J. Caruso. Whose career I'd followed closely. He made a solid flick called "The Salton Sea" He is a stylist but also has the chops to make a Christian-based topic without it being overtly religious. It's a brilliant stroke to have him design this film as it is. It has some really really hard to watch segments. Mostly due to the acting chops of a young Angel (played by Livi Birch) and, aforementioned Abigail Cowen. They play frightened and broken well.

This was made much more perplexing that reviewers on another site destroyed this film. Clear where the disconnect is with media and the public.

Francine Rivers, listed as a born-again Christian, wrote this story in the 90's as a re-telling of The Book of Hosea and brilliantly put it in the gold rush of 1850. It is a frontier movie where the people in it are survivalist.

The few criticisms I have for it are...frontier people having perfect teeth. And the prostitutes in it not looking more broken.

Great cameo from Famke Janssen as the Duchess. Her wicked step-mother take of a madam is fantastic.

Most readers will agree that books are better than movies and that is the case here. If you didn't read the book and just went to see the movie, you would get a movie for the time and the money. If you read the book, like I did, you will feel cheated of some of the most crucial moments from the book. I don't feel that there were any needless parts in the movie. I can't even tell you how you could've added more. But I do feel like this would've thrived better if it would've been a mini series. There is literally no time to develop character relationships. It also lacked a lot of the faith and the connectivity to the Bible that it's famous for.

The actors were wonderful though. The actor who played Michael is smaller than described in the book but you quickly connect with him. The actress who played Angel was terrific also! Duke is dashing but as monstrous as the book portrays him to be.

Overall I'm not sorry I saw it but I will certainly go back to the book and likely won't need to see the movie beyond maybe one more showing.

The romance is good and easy to enjoy. It seems since the COVID pandemic over two years ago, there have been few romantic movies while there should have been more. After all, not everyone is a superhero to save the world but almost anyone can use more warmth from love.

I also appreciate the realistic backdrop of justice, moral, and even empowerment of education.

Characters, dresses, scenes, and musics range from nice to impressive to gorgeous.

The rating is not 8 for the love story is not remarkably new or deep, which I admit is rather tricky since new or deep does not necessarily make a good romance.

I didn't know that this movie is based on a novel. But then again most masterpieces are. The story is really beautiful, the acting is superb, the plot is well executed, the moral of the story is really shown perfectly, the visual is stunning, and the time setting is consistent. There's not many movies made in our time which holds such qualities. I'm glad to have watched this masterpiece. The director, the actors, and the crews deserve standing ovation. Bravo! Keep up the good work!

I came into this not knowing what to expect and came out liking what I saw.

For me I saw a movie about how hard it is to tear yourself away from the life you knew, even if it's poisoning you. This movie is a good example of how hard it is to do that, even if you have a great support system.

It's supposed to be a romance film, and I guess I saw that, but I was more thinking about this is a movie about what it takes to love yourself.

Well done!