DVD Review: When Calls The Heart

When Calls the Heart directed by Michael Landon, Jr.

Release Date: November 19, 2013

Format: DVD, 89 minutes

Based On: The novel by Janette Oke

Starring: Maggie Grace, Stephen Amell, Poppy Drayton, Daniel Sharman, Cherie Lunghi, and Christopher Villiers with Jean Smart and Lori Loughlin

About the Movie:

This is a Hallmark Channel hit movie, based on Janette Oke's When Calls the Heart. It also serves as a pilot for a new TV series coming in 2014. 

When Calls the Heart (DVD) is the story of Elizabeth Thatcher, a cultured young school teacher in 1910 who, through the discovery of her aunt's secret diary, finds the courage to leave her big city home to accept a teaching position in a frontier coal mining town.  And in the process, she also finds the potential for love with a handsome Royal Canadian Mountie.

My Review:

When Calls the Heart, directed by Michael Landon, Jr., is loosely based on Janette Oke's novel of the same name. I say "loosely" because, while the film includes much of the novel's plot, it serves largely as a vehicle to launch a new television series starting in January 2014 inspired by Oke's book. Additionally, in a turnabout, Oke and her daughter are writing a book based on the movie, focused on Beth Thatcher (the niece) titled Where Courage Calls that will release in the Spring of 2014.

It's not necessary to have read the book When Calls the Heart in order to enjoy the movie. This was actually my experience. Never having read the book, I sat down to watch the film, curious to find out what the story was about. The movie introduces a younger Elizabeth (Beth) Thatcher, who happens to be the niece of the novel's protagonist. Beth finds her Aunt's diary and reads about her adventures as a schoolteacher in the Canadian West. And Beth soon finds herself following a very similar path.

The movie's storyline alternates between Beth's timeline and Aunt Elizabeth's life. The two plot lines are woven together expertly and seamlessly, keeping your interest equally engaged.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and found the whole cast, especially Maggie Grace, captivating. The film is well-edited. Landon has trimmed any fat from the book and added new characters, while remaining true to the spirit of Oke's original work.

I liked the movie so well that I immediately picked up a copy of the book. You can buy a special movie tie-in edition which has artwork and photos from the movie as well as a letter from Janette Oke.

When I read the book, I realized that some of the pieces of young Beth's story are borrowed from Elizabeth's tale in the novel. Aside from plot variences, the main way in which the book is different from the novel is that the novel spends a little more time on the history of the period, while also devoting more time to setting the scene before Elizabeth begins her teaching foray. The movie is trim and taut, and cuts straight to the chase. Each, however, is a joy -- heartwarming, funny, and inspirational.

Verdict: 4.5 of 5 stars. Highly Recommended! If you are a fan of the Anne of Green Gables films and TV series, you'll love both Landon's movie and Oke's book. I know I plan to continue reading the books while also keeping an eye out for the TV series which premieres January 12, 2014.

About Janette Oke:

Janette Oke is a distinguished writer, having been honored with the President's Award by the ECPA and the Life Impact Award by the CBA as well as the Gold Medallion and the Christy Award.

Born in Champion, Alberta, Canada, Oke is best known for her award-winning Love Come Softly book series. Among her other series is the Canadian West Series of which Whens Calls the Heart is the first title.

When Calls the Heart Movie on the Web: 

*Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received the above DVD for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

 

Read Love Reviews: Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Pub. Date: March 2011
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Format: Hardcover, 344pp
Age Range: Young Adult
ISBN-13: 9780399254123

Synopsis From BN.com:

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously - and at great risk - documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

My review:

 

Right now in YA Fiction, dystopia is all the rage.  Stories that you can't bear to watch, but from which you just can’t look away.  Sometimes, though, in order to inhabit a horrific landscape where individual freedom is at risk or strangled, hatred and brutality are all-too present, and survival seems against all odds, you need not use your imagination. You'll find that these places exist in our reality, in the not-so-distant past (or even in the present).  And sometimes the truth is more disturbing than any nightmare you could ever dream.

"He threw his burning cigarette onto our clean living room floor and ground it into the wood with his boot.  We were about to become cigarettes."

By the time I read these final sentences of the opening chapter, Between Shades of Gray had transported me to another place and time:  Lithuania, June 14, 1941 -- the day that Lina's real-life terror begins.

Between Shades of Gray is a lean book, with direct prose, short chapters, and quick pacing.  Straight from the start, the reader is carried along at a breakneck pace, and you find yourself gripping tightly to Lina in the midst of the chaos and confusion.  This is not the kind of book you can take lightly.  It is not to be read at your leisure.  If you like to read multiple things at the same time, alternating between them, you'll find that you can't do that here.  The subject matter is engrossing and the story will demand your complete attention. More than that, it will demand your entire being.

It's a story that must be told, by the protagonist and her author.  Some subjects and experiences are painfully difficult to talk about.  But art can facilitate both the expression and sharing of strong emotions.  Lina's drawing allows her catharsis:  Just as she washes away accumulated dirt and grime in the bathhouse, Lina sketches to move the horrific scenes from her mind to paper.  In so doing, she cleanses her spirit of the darkness in the world that threatens to break her spirit and body.  Her drawings speak the words Lina cannot express.  And they will speak for her, telling a story that she will carry in silence for the rest of her life. They document what happened to her and others like her.   They will expose the truth that man is capable of great evil.

Yet, while the art of both author and protagonist uncovers an ugly truth, beauty is revealed.  Lina learns that even in the most smothering darkness, there is always light.  It may be hiding where we least expect to find it. And sometimes, when we cannot find it in our surroundings, we need to look for in ourselves.  We need to hold on to that light -- happy memories, hope, dreams, goodness, kindness, generosity, and most importantly, love.  When love and light are present, the human spirit will endure.

Between Shades of Gray is a story that should not only be read, it should be shared -- passed from one to another like Lina's handkerchief.

So none may forget.