Love and Passion come alive at 'The Longest Ride'

I am so blessed to attend the press night of Warner Bros. and Fox Philippines’ latest box office hit, “The Longest Ride,” and was pretty much everything you’d love in a movie – superb, breathtaking, heartwarming, inspiring – except that I found its title very ironic for it wasn’t a long ride at all; in fact you won’t get enough of this gripping story of life and love, it will leave you applauding with tears in your eyes, asking for more! Those hours were just short yet sweet and mesmerising. The movie unraveled the beautiful foundational layers of love, such as respect, humility and sacrifice.

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“The Longest Ride” is adapted from the novel of the same title but Nicolas Sparks – who never failed to make me cry since I met him (through his books) during my college days – really produced a winner in this one. This movie is so delectable with a zesty twist you never expected! It resonates the truth of how love is a seed that grows love really starts with just the seed of pure, simple intentions, and definitely, as it grows, it leads you to something beyond your wildest imaginations.

The characters were powerfully given life in the movie. The beauty and charm of Sofia (played by Britt Robertson) simply grows on you. Shy yet spunky, she unwittingly finds her prince without looking for him, only because she is destined for him (and she shows how destiny is synonymous to sacrifice and selflessness). And you can’t help but take a second, luke her bull-riding prince, Luke (played by Scott Eastwood). With his Clint Eastwood-solid-faced good looks, laced with gentlemanliness, you can’t help but gush every time they share the screen!

Everything about the movie was simply spellbinding, the generations of love in the film, and the different forms that Love takes. Beyond the romantic love between Sofia and Luke, they also meet Ira after they save his life but it turns out that it was he who saved their love as he walked the young couple through consummate love and solidarity. I loved how the story spoke of how simplicity – of simply loving and sacrificing without demanding the same, of simply helping without expecting praises or monetary rewards, of simply listening without expecting any gratification in exchange, of simply letting go for the simple reason that you love the person and you want her to be happy. Indeed, the story tells of how Love and Life should never be complicated. That all it takes to find lasting greatness is a pure, selfless heart. This movie is the epitome of subtle perfection and as I do not yearn to spoil the plot for you, to excite you let me quote a line from the movie that simply summarises this beautiful tale: “A story like so many others, except Ruth happened to have an eye for art while I had eyes only for her and somehow this was enough for us to create a collection that became priceless to both of us.” 

- MARYLAINE LOUISE VIERNES