Redeeming Love

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.

I'm not a romantic genre lover. However,I loved it. I could just watch the movie all the day. This is so soothing. Machel love for Angel made me believe ''True love actually exists''. It doesn't count on where we come from, what we are? True love means loving selflessly without thinking about getting it back from the person you loved.

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 overriding themes of sex trafficking and GBV made the more preachy parts of this bearable for me. Shockingly, these horrific things still happen today, even though a lot of people prefer not to acknowledge it, and walk around with their eyes closed. In the beautiful country of SA where this was filmed, a Mother and her boyfriend are currently on trial for selling her 10 year old daughter. Truth can be stranger than fiction.

I am an Atheist, but I can still appreciate a good story of undying love and redemption. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears at the end. Even though I was a bit sceptical of the very final scenes, I was glad it ended on a happy note.

I'm giving a star for the stunning scenery and costumes.

I have read Redeeming Love and it's been a favourite of mine since I was young and I have always wanted to see it as a movie. I did have high expectations that I thought it wouldn't have met but supprisingly I was blown away with the setting, the cast, the way they incorperated the flash backs to gain a better understanding of Angels character, some scenes were confronting to be seen played out as I knew they would be as Angels character had been through alot of horrible situations in life. As for the sexual content, I thought maybe they might go to far but it was done tastefully. This movie created different types of emotions in me and I was left feeling pleased with how well this movie was put together.