A Walk to Remember is unlike other grief movies in that it helps you understand what it is like to anticipate the death of a loved one instead of focusing on the aftermath of their death. The movie starts with kids being stupid and I have to be honest and say that since I hadn’t read the plot previously, I thought it was going to focus on the main character’s grief after the death of a friend who he dared to dive into a shallow pond. I was totally wrong.
In some ways, the movie is predictable in that the cocky and arrogant main character, Landon Carter (played by Shane West), falls for the shy and reserved girl, Jamie Sullivan (played by Mandy Moore), and she is grateful for his attention. However, that’s not the case as Jamie may be a shy and demure preacher’s daughter, but she is self-assured and knows exactly who she is and she doesn’t take shit from anyone. When one of the mean boys ask why God can’t get her a new sweater, she puts an innocent look on her face and says “Because he’s too busy looking for your brain.”
When Landon needs help learning his lines and asks Jamie for help, she agrees, but only on the condition that he not fall in love with her. He does and what follows is a beautiful and sweet love story that survives his friends teasing him and her revealing she has terminal cancer. Landon has grown through his relationship with Jamie and he stays by her side. He even helps her fulfill the number one item on her bucket list, which is to get married in the same church her parents did.
The movie doesn’t show Jamie’s death and the immediate aftereffects, instead the narrator tells us she has died and a more mature Landon tells the audience that she is always with him.
I normally don’t like Nicholas Sparks films and I was actually hesitant to watch this one, but I’m glad that I did as it showed someone who is grieving the anticipated loss of a loved one, but leans in anyway.