I may indulge myself in a blissful nostalgia of the work surrounded by the British historian and writer Richard Attenborough who was a former president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Films and Television Arts (BAFTA).
I still adore and dote on Attenborough’s ‘Young Winston’, ‘A Bridge Too Far’, and ‘Cry Freedom’ and ‘Gandhi’ that make me rather glad and gay. I prefer his Academy Award winning ‘Gandhi’ than that of his 1969 directorial debut ‘Oh! What a Lovely War’.
However, his ‘In Love and War’ has often been my most favorite. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Attenborough went ahead over heels with Hemingway in Love and War; 1989 novel by Henry S Villard and James Nagel; this pivotal impression influenced Attenborough’s desire of being the director of the 1996 movie ‘In Love and War’.
‘In Love and War’ is based on the true romance between the then 19-year-old Hemingway and his 26-year-old fiancée who was a nurse during World War I. I reckon that the American writer Hemingway memorialised her in his celebrated masterpiece ‘A Farewell to Arms’.
I come to terms with the fact that the movie is sustainable and allowable. The movie in its essence follows the biographical style that showcases a bit of the life of the 20th century American literary giant Ernest Hemingway.
Albeit I am not an aficionado of Hemingway’s masterpieces, his words cast a vehement passion on me and thereby I became his fan. Attenborough takes his best knack out of the carpet in featuring Chris O’Donnell and Sandra Bullock as Ernie and Agnes Von, respectively, where the entire cast brought out by Attenborough does not fail to do the justice to the characters that they played. Chris O’Donnell as Ernie, an ardent and avid volunteer ambulance driver finds himself being wounded in leg whilst being on a visit to the front.
For Ernie’s sheer luck and amusement, Agnes, a red cross nurse, played by Sandra Bullock manages to convince an Italian surgeon not to amputate the young fighter’s leg.
The virility and tomboyishness of the Pre- war Hemingway that O’ Donnell reflects are surprisingly alluring. The insight that Attenborough takes across the life of America’s greatest writer has never been taken by any other film as much as ‘In Love and War’ has ever done.
The wonderful chemistry that Bullock and O’ Donnell have got towards each other right across the movie is an exact synonym for the romance between an injured soldier and an attending nurse in any terrifying war front.
The moments that are blithe and nonchalant across the films are weighed against a narrative of tremendous anguish and torment without being sanctimonious or rather throbbing. The realism maintained within the tale is arguably striking.
A master manipulator of movie direction, Attenborough’s knack and charisma do not simply stand distinctive themselves, instead you feel as if he has coined an elegant language which is more subtle and weighty where only Attenborough himself is capable of elaborating. The picture that Attenborough draws within ‘In Love and War’ is vivid whilst brimmingly and overwhelmingly being robust at the outset.
In the story that Attenborough presents, I witness novel approaches and insights. With In Love and War, Attenborough avoids getting panicked and eventually rushing into the scenes in the movie; his patience has not been challenged.
He enjoys his wait for his cast to introduce themselves to the audience whereby he gradually gives room for the moviegoers to develop a trust and a friendship with his story.
Generally, the films focused on Hemingway are after his stardom and renown; they settle him in a parody and travesty of prolix and blunt emotion. Instead ‘In Love and War’, shapes him as a regular soldier who feels the romantic sentiment and falls in love.
History bears testimony to the fact that the wartime romances are predominantly fragile and brittle and seldomly bear fruit; but they cannot resist the calling of their hearts. What Attenborough brought out is the Hollywood version of such a romance.
As per some anonymous sources, Hemingway did not fall in love with the woman who nursed him during his stay in Italy, but right throughout his career, she became his protagonist here and there, ‘A Farewell to Arms’ marks such an instance. Love and War deserves a thorough watch by any fan of Hemingway who may still weep on the suicide of this pivotal figure in American Literature.
