The last time I went into a movie theatre and watched a movie, I was overdue with the mackerdoodle. We watched The Bourne Ultimatum and I went into labor early the next morning.
More than 14 months later, with a weaned mackerdoodle, and another one on the way, I figured I had only an eight or so month window of opportunity to do these things again, before another period of babywearing and breast feeding. So Terri and I went to see Fireproof.
Fireproof is by the same people that made Facing the Giants, by which I was pleasantly surprised. The success of Facing the Giants permitted them to actually pay an actual actor (Kirk Cameron) to appear in the film, and I was just a little concerned that in the face of success, they would compromise some of the things I had enjoyed about Facing the Giants. I was happy to be wrong.
The basic premise of the story is simple: Caleb and Katherine used to be in love. Now they are married and can barely stand to be in the same room as each other. They are on the fast track for divorce when Caleb’s father challenges him to a “Love Dare” – a 40 day project of re-learning to love his wife.
A lot of the things I enjoyed about this movie are the same things I enjoyed about Facing the Giants. The characters were genuine and realistic. In fact, during the first fight scene, they were a little too close to home for me. Caleb is a captain in the local fire department, and some of the firemen are familiar from the team and coach staff in Facing the GIants. They have some very funny moments with those men, and with the women at the hospital who work with Katherine. Again, I found myself thinking “I know people like this.”
Too often in movies featuring a marriage on the rocks, one partner is all evil and the other partner is the suffering servant. Here, both partners are at fault, and neither wants to admit it. It was a refreshing, and far more realistic, scenario. The solutions, likewise, in films are often unrealistic, but both parties in Fireproof have to undergo some pretty hard work to put things back together. (I don’t really think that’s a spoiler, if you’ve seen the poster.)
Now, on the cheesy side: there is a conversion experience that was very awkward. I think because the deep emotions and strong spiritual nature of a conversion, they are virtually impossible to portray on film. It is an important plot point, and I don’t really know how they could have changed it, so it certainly didn’t change my overall impression of the film. It did get me thinking, as an aspiring (or maybe fantasizing, at my age) writer how I would have done it differently.
All in all, I recommend it highly. I would recommend it to anyone who is married, engaged to be married, or praying to be married someday. There are a lot of good, solid, biblical truths about love and relationships well planted within the entertaining and engaging story.
