Based on the bestselling novel by Francine Rivers, Redeeming Love makes its way to the big screen. For those who love romances or who are romantics at heart, this story of a man meeting the girl of his dreams in the most unlikely of places during the Gold Rush in California is right up your alley.
The film stars Abigail Cowen as Angel, a woman who was sold into prostitution as a child when her mother (Nina Dobrev) perished, and her father wanted nothing to do with her. She finds herself in Paradise, California when Michael (Tom Lewis) sees her walking down the street in town and immediately decides that’s the girl he’s going to marry. Of course, that’s complicated given her vocation and honestly, past history.
Cowen plays her as someone who has come to grips with her present and past, albeit with the help of some whisky on occasion. She doesn’t apologize for who she is or what she has “become.” The thing about Michael that is so appealing, is he has no intention for her to do anything of the kind. He loves her for who she is, who she was, and who she can be one day. Angel finds this hard to believe and it takes her quite a while to come around to the idea.
Hardly the premise for a whisk you away romance. Fans of that milieu are a passionate group, and they adore their romance stories and are willing to overlook some suspension of disbelief to get that heart rate moving with a tsunami of love.
They also are up for something new and different, having read and seen it all. Redeeming Love is certainly that. Heading, I felt the child prostitution part would take me out of the film for the entire time and serve as such a distraction that it would spoil the entire experience. It’s a big part of who Angel is and how she finds herself doing what she’s doing, but it is handled by director D.J. Caruso in a pitch-perfect manner.
In many ways, Rivers’ book and Caruso’s film are about redemption. The movie and novel could be considered faith-based. As someone who is wary of such forms of entertainment, I went in with an eyebrow raised. But something incredible occurred.
The director, working from a stellar script penned by Caruso and the book’s author Rivers, has made a film about the blindness of love and how at the same time it may lack sight and vision, but it does not lack from allowing humans to follow their heart. Forgiveness plays an enormous part in Redeeming Love, thus the moniker. In that way, yes, it’s a “Christian” film, but you would be hard-pressed to label it as such for anything else.
It’s an interesting dichotomy witnessing all these souls dropping their lives to head out west, seeking their fortune a golden nugget at a time, all while Michael is working his tail off running his farm 20 miles outside the city. It is those gold-seeking souls who frequent Angel’s establishment, but it is Michael who is trying to get her out of there—promising her a better life filled with children and happiness, not necessarily in that order!
Cowen is terrific. She has a lot to balance due to the fact that much of her issue is not overtly visible. Much is told through her use of her entire actor’s toolkit, i.e., her body and her emotive power. There’s a shame and guilt that lies under the surface. She’d never let you see it because she paints a self-portrait as someone who is strong and doesn’t apologize for anything or to anybody. The young actress makes it easy to see why Michael would go to all this trouble to woo a woman that is so scarred, scorned, and seemingly lacking the tools to not only love but to be loved. Cowen captures that brilliantly, subtly, and in a way that simultaneously has viewers keenly knowing why Michael does feel the way he does about her.
Lewis is terrific as well. He is a solidified character to his core. As it is established early, he is a man of faith, but he’s not thumping a bible across his chest. His commitment to his faith lies more in action than verbal verbosity. The actor does a terrific job handling the myriad of issues that come his way, all in the name of love. After a while, though, one starts to wonder why he doesn’t give up. Then again, that’s part of the story’s appeal. That’s how committed Michael is to Angel, he doesn’t give up on her and never will.
Grade: B