"I Heard the Bells" is supposed to be about overcoming grief. Given the real story upon which the movie is based, it is disappointing. Apparently, in our grief-illiterate society, one must offer a pallid grief, viewed "through a screen, darkly," kind of like a noir Hallmark movie (if that isn't a complete contradiction in terms). They don't even use the full poem, or hymn, just the Bing Crosby version, since the full version would somewhat conflict with their version of events and motivations.
We have, instead, a series of vignettes, giving hints of grief, but not dealing with it directly. There is one short speech, towards the end of the movie, which I found realistic and somewhat compelling, but otherwise the movie simply goes for a happy ending, without any real resolution.
I was most interested in the hypothesis, alluded to but never really developed, that Fanny editted, and even contributed to, Longfellow's poems.
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