Fireproof

The missus and I saw the movie Fireproof last fall during our anniversary. If you are not familiar with the movie, it is the story of how a couple was on the brink of divorce, and how a challenge of self sacrifice from the husband's father led to the husband's conversion to Christianity and the eventual winning back of his wife.

I thought that it was a well done movie. It might not sound like it from the above description, but I thought that the movie was convincing in the way it portrayed the reality of the relationships involved.  There were no magic answers, and the characters were believeably selfish, short-sighted and resistant to change.  The solution wasn't as easy as saying "Now I shall be self-sacrificing" - there was real struggle involved.  I found the movie very, well, moving.  I'm pretty easily affected by any movie or TV show where the characters actually show humility and say "I'm sorry," and so I cried several times during the movie.

The wife loved it so much that she preordered the DVD, and is organizing a private party of friends and our kids to watch the movie together. I heard her on the phone asking people to this showing, and apparently she thought that it would be a great selling point to relate how I had to fight "openingly sobbing" during the movie.  Now, come on, I know that a man being able to express and embrace his emotions is a good thing. But does anybody, guy or not, want to be known to all his or her friends as the one who couldn't keep it together during a movie, whether true or not?  I finally asked her to stop selling the movie that way.  Sheesh.

Now I need to face all these people when we watch this movie together.  Will I cry a lot?  Will they be watching me to see if I cry?  Will I embarrass myself?  Maybe I should go on the offensive before the movie starts.  "Where are the Kleenexes?  Watch out, I'm going to start bawling like a baby during the previews!"

Anyway, it is a good movie. I do recommend it to anyone who wants to see what sacrificial love can do.

Oh, and just so you know: I love my darling wife. If anything you read here seems to imply that I don't completely respect her or that I think ill of her, then you read it wrong.