Dear John

"Dear John," the letter read. And with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives changed forever.

A friend once told me that Nicholas Sparks' novels are inclined to be very emotional and tear-jerking. And so I absent-mindedly followed the advice since I don't want to deal with heavy dramas. This was sometime in law school when my thick books were considered priority above others. I have watched, however, two films adaptations of Nicholas Sparks' novel of the same name: Message in a Bottle & A Walk To Remember. The guy must be filthy rich for having six of his novels turned into films, namely, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John (gotcha) and The Last Song (expected to be released in March 2010). My research also tells me that two more books are already in the process of being made into movies: True Believer (2011) and The Lucky One (2012).

First things first.

According to Wikipedia, a "Dear John letter" is a letter written to a husband or boyfriend to inform him their relationship is over, usually because the author has found another lover. Dear John Letters are often written out of an inability or unwillingness to inform the man in person. The reverse situation, in which someone writes to his wife or girlfriend to break off the relationship, is referred to as a "Dear Jane letter."

The definition itself is suggestive of a weepy tale. Sigh. But still, I prodded my boyfriend that we should watch it. After all, the movie was reported to topple off the gigantic Avatar after reigning in the cinemas for seven weeks. 

At first, I really expected that the movie will make me cry. Unfortunately or fortunately, it did not. Maybe I was holding on too much to be swept away with the breakup scene and how the lovers' lives have changed. The movie speaks of the most basic consideration in a relationship - communication - and the very importance of the same. It can make or break a relationship, needless to say. Keeping in touch across the miles is the most crucial part in an LDR.

It's basically a soldier-meets-true-love story. John Tyree and Savannah Curtis* were a lovely pair from the start. They both fell in love in a short period in what seems to be a laid-back town in South Carolina. John was on leave from the Special Forces while Savannah was on a spring break from college. Their happy moments were cut short and LDR came into play. Sending letters to each other was the only cure for loneliness. Then the most controversial Dear John letter fell in the hands of John. Complications set in and a surprising twist happened. Hearts of moviegoers were wretched. Okay, mine was slightly wretched too. However, true love seemed to prevail after all. The last scene shows John and Savannah locked in an embrace, a scene which makes the "Dear John letter" vanished into the wind.

*Amanda Seyfried also stars in an upcoming movie Letters to Juliet. Hmmm, I see a trend here.