A Walk to Remember (2002)

Synopsis: He is a popular kid, to whom morals come second; she is the reverend's daughter, mocked at by the popular kids because of her clothes and her religion. Their paths cross at school.
Appraisal: **The following text contains spoilers**
I was a little disconcerted when I started watching this film. It seemed to represent a departure from the liberal values that were so dominant during the 90's in Hollywood. Well, I thought to myself, finally that silent majority that vote for the Republicans will have their adolescent sons and daughters see a film where their values are not dismissed. As the film proceeded I got more and more intrigued with possible interpretations for the plot of this movie. Let's start from the beginning. Landon is with his gang and a guy that wants to join in. Several events happen that lead to the guy getting injured -- he might have died. Landon thus gets in close contact with death, or specifically the possibility of a death to which he would have been an accomplice. This is certainly a traumatic occurrence for a young man, and it puts Landon's life in a crisis. To sort out this crisis, he must face death very closely, and this he does through Jamie, who is the personification of death. If the most obvious fact connecting her to death does not convince you of that, look at the parallels between Jamie's family and Landon's: Jamie lives with her father and her mother is dead, whereas Landon lives with his mother and his father is estranged but alive; furthermore, Landon's father is a cardiologist, and the heart is a symbol for life. The process in which Landon (life) will approach Jamie (death) is not an easy one, and many obstacles will have to be overcome. At this point, there is an important theme of the movie that is developed: nakedness. Like all adolescents, Landon belongs to a group because it offers shelter for him -- in other words, the group 'clothes' him; without the group he would be naked. But in order to face death, he must be stripped of these clothes, since death is nothing other than the baring of the soul from the body. Ergo, he must abandon his group in favor of Jamie. But Jamie, aside from being a symbol for death, is also a character, so she has clothing issues of her own, like any character. The theme of clothing is made explicit in regard to her: she is the most fully dressed of all the students in the school, and the other students must somehow undo this, so they do a computer assemblage of her face with someone's naked body -- they, too, have stripped her. Another theme of the movie is faith, and it is somehow related with Landon's crisis, since he states at one point that he doesn't believe in God because 'there's too much bad shit in the world' (quoted from memory, so expect inaccuracies). The realization that he might be a part of that 'bad shit' leads him to a relationship with death -- Jamie -- that would somehow restore his faith in God, if only Jamie's father 'has faith in him'. Here, faith in God and faith in Man are equated, which may sound like a revolutionary concept, but actually has its roots in the old gnostic belief that Man has the Divinity within himself. Furthermore, Jamie's father stands as a symbol of God, and the Bible as his code; Jamie's mother stands as a symbol of Mankind, and her book of quotations as its code, including in it everyone from Aristotle to a famous country singer. The step that proclaims the identity of Life and Death is realized through Landon and Jamie's wedding. The ending is deeply symbolic too, with Landon turning the book of quotations over to the preacher -- thus establishing a link between Mankind's wisdom and God.
(Addendum: All of the above is a joke.)

The following text is serious. This RIDICULOUS film is made almost unbearable by the relentless insertion of songs in the soundtrack.

Rating: 18