As Pontes de Madison

When the soul of a movie is reflected in an actor's eyes then you have a miracle, you have something that's going to last. Meryl Streep in "The Bridges Of Madison County" is such a miracle to me. I never thought for a moment that she, no matter how wonderful an actress she is, could fool me. Meryl Streep could never be Italian. Well, there I was, thinking and pre-judging like people I detest. I was so wrong. Not just because she fooled me, although there is no fooling involved here. She won me over. I forgot she was Meryl Streep, the actress, and I lived Francesca's story to the fullest because, I suppose, that's the mystery of great acting, I was confronted by her sheer undiluted truth. The truth in her eyes in every one of her gestures. The truth on her brow. Her thinking, transparent. Clint Eastwood does the right thing putting the entire film at her service and placing himself as the foil to liberate that powerful latent side of Francesca. I though it was ironic and I'm not sure if was meant to be that a wonderful woman like Francesca will sacrifice, what could arguably be call the love of her life, for those children. The grown children's mediocrity was kind of shocking to me. Will the revelation of their mother's secret, reveal a latent, greater side to their natures. I hope so. Francesca deserved extraordinary children. Try no to miss this little miracle.

When I was a senior in college, Robert James Waller taught what was to be his last business course at UNI. I was fortunate enough to have been a part of that class. He was leaving teaching for a "special project". Little did I know, it turned out to be the book that later turned into a movie.

The similarities between Robert Kincaid and Mr. Waller are many. Mr. Waller was a photographer and a musician with a way about him that I have yet to see again in my 51 years, so similar to the character in the movie. He was those things in addition to being a business consultant and college professor with notable accomplishments. Some of my fondest memories from class were not only his lessons, but also being able to enjoy classes where he shared his photography and music.

When I graduated from college, I was given a questionnaire to fill out. One of the questions was along the lines of something that I would never change about my college experience. My response was how fortunate I was to attend Mr. Waller's class and how I had hoped he would not leave. Alas, he went on to further success.

I watched the movie last night with my wife, who had not seen it yet. I was flooded with many wonderful memories of Mr. Waller along with a good friend of mine that played in the band in the road house scene. While the son and daughter characters in the movie are a tad hokey, I think the movie still stands up.

R. I. P. Mr. Waller, you are missed by many.

Meryl Streep is absolutely astonishing. I forgot it was her ten seconds into the film. That opening breakfast scene where all of her story is written in her magnificent face. As an Italian I know there is no acting involved here. She IS Italian. She reminded me of Anna Magnani in "Bellissima" there is not a single false note. Clint Eastwood, clearly, dedicates the film to her and the results are pure magic. The film is based on an unreadable book- at least I couldn't get through it, in spite of the brevity of the volume - the film however, is bound to become a classic thanks to the powerful chemistry of the stars. If you love film,like I do, I recommend you to see it once and let yourself be taken away by the truths in Meryl's eyes then go again and take note. Look at every one of her moments, from how she closes the refrigerator door to her laughter. Look at her reaction when she discovers that Clint stopped at Bari, her home town, just because he thought the place was pretty. Look at her hands, her walk and then go back to her eyes. It's a treat of the first order. Clint, in front as well as behind the camera,does a miraculous job. I passionately recommend it, no matter how young you are.

On the page "The Bridges of Madison County" often read like a reject from Mills and Boon and yet it was tremendously popular. People who normally wouldn't read this sort of thing were not only reading it but quoting it. You could say that for some people it held the kind of camp appeal that bad books sometimes do for the so-called intelligentsia. Personally, I am inclined to think that its tale of middle-aged romance struck a cord. It may not have been well-written but many people recognized in its two central characters a reflection of themselves. It spoke of a great passion and a great loss; a "Brief Encounter" for the nineties. Still, it never quite seemed like a vehicle for Clint Eastwood; (once upon a time you might have envisaged Arthur Hiller doing it), yet here it is, larger than life on the big screen and utterly lovely, utterly heart-breaking.

Perhaps Eastwood chose to film it as a vehicle for himself. He wears the mantle of the ageing Lothario perfectly at an age when most romantic leads are played by much younger men, (or are simply non-existent), yet who blanched when Gary Cooper or Cary Grant were wooing Audrey Hepburn well into their old age. Admittedly Eastwood isn't entirely comfortable in this sort of role. He's not a versatile actor. His best performances have been as tortured losers or just old-fashioned tough guys but under his own direction he blossoms here. Of course, the 'romantic' in Eastwood has never been hard to find. You need look only to the scores he has composed. (He has written the main love theme here and his use of classic jazz standards by the likes of Dinah Washington and Johnny Hartman adds considerably to the film's beating heart).

What is remarkable is that essentially Eastwood's film is really something of a chamber piece for two players. A few other characters flit into the frame but for most of the time there is no one on screen but Eastwood and co-star Meryl Streep and this is one of Streep's great performances. As Francesca, the woman who finds in Eastwood's photographer Robert the one great passion in her life albeit briefly and at a time when the likelihood of such a thing happening was remote indeed, Streep is extraordinary. Sometimes Streep can overwhelm a project; her versatility doesn't always work in favour of lesser material. But here she seems to have tapped quite effortlessly, not just into the consciousness of her character, but into her very soul as well. And if that sounds cheesy, let me assure you it isn't. Cheesiness isn't in Streep's vocabulary, even if it is in mine! Perhaps Eastwood was able to discern in Robert James Waller's novel the seeds of a great love story or perhaps he just felt he could bring his artistry to bear on some unlikely source material. Whatever, it's paid off. On screen "The Bridges of Madison County" is a great love story; there won't be a dry eye in the house.

I think this movie of one of the best movies I have ever seen. Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood really did a great job in this movie. for him to come in and change her life in just four days is amazing. To fall in love with some one in just four days is just wonderful to me. I watch it on Starz, and it played everyday for a week and I watch it every day it came on. she was a strong lady to stay there and be unhappy for all of those years. It is simply a beautiful movie. I love the part when he was picking flowers for her and she told him that the flowers were poison and then she started to laugh, that was hilarious to me. Because just in the few minutes she had know him he brought out something in her something that has not been released. She was more herself in this movie.I would surely recommend this movie to some one else.