The Notebook

Poor mr tam has to be on some duties today, thus I was alone at home today. And it has been a long long time since I have cried, on my own, over a movie.

The movie was very subtle, I felt. A very simple love, but so much efforts were put in to maintain such a simple affair. The movie started with a man at a nursing home, telling a love story to another woman, from a book. Its a simple and cliche love story really, two 17 year olds fell in love with one another over the summer holidays, but the rich girl's family looks down on the poor country boy. They fought one night, and before they could even make it up, the girl had to leave for her home and they didn even have time to say goodbye.

The girl eventually found another man who was everything a girl could dream of - humorous, attractive and most importantly, rich. And the boy, left to fight for his country and when he returned, he managed to buy over his dream house with the help ofhis father and he built the house from scratch, building it up exactly the way the girl had wanted it to be. When the girl was about to get married, she read about the boy in the papers and decided to return to visit. And she realised that she was still in love with him.

Cliche love story, of course. It then returned to the mordern day setting, at the nursing home. It is made evident, that the elderly woman listening on is actually the girl, and the old man is of course, the boy. The woman had suffered from dementia, and the old man, wanting to be close to his wife, moved into the nursing home with her although he was quite fine taking care of himself. I started crying at this point of time, when the children came to visit and at the following conversation.

Children: " Daddy, why are you staying here? Its crazy."
Old Man: " Thats my sweet heart in there. This is my home. Your mum is my home."

The movie then return to the story again. The girl realised that the fiance was there as well, and decided to go back to the fiance. When she did, the fiance wanted her to make a decision.

At this point, the old man closes the book and says," And they lived happily after." "Who did? Oh yes, of course." The elderly woman finally remembers that she is in fact, the girl in the story.

The woman, had earlier on wrote their life story in the notebook after finding out about their illness. And there on the front page, was this,"The story of our lives, by Allie Calhoun. Read this to me, and I'll come back to you."

After a while however, the woman's illness took over and she could not remember the husband again.

The next morn, the man was rushed to the hospital when he was found unconscious. He later returns to the ICU where his wife was admitted to.

Woman: "Do you believe that our love can create miracles?"
Man: "Miracles are what brought you back to me everytime."
Woman: "Do you think that love can bring us away together?"
Man: "I think our love can do anything we want it to."

He lies down beside her and fell asleep, after saying," I will be seeing you soon." And the next morn, the nurse found both of them, holding one another, dead.

At the end of the movie, I have already soaked 5 tissue papers. I remember the time when I was in Hong Kong, and always see old couples holding one another's hands while going for walks together. It may seem like a simple gesture, but who knows how much they have done to maintain their relationship so many years, how much they have put in to tolerate one another such that they can still hold one another's hands?

Love may be a complicated game, but with both parties giving in to one another and holding on to the faith, love can bring miracles. Holding hands at the age of 60, 70 or even 80 is already a huge miracle.