We`ve all heard stories about brave soldiers on the front carrying in their pockets pictures and love letters received from their loved ones. This movie tells the heartbreaking story of a young couple who fail to find happiness together. But despite the bittersweet loss of their romance, the story if softened by the characters into feeling like a triumph of love. The story might not sound unique, just another soldier exchanging love letters with his sweet heart from home, but it is executed in such way, that it makes you feel as though you’re experiencing it for the first time.
John Tyree, enrolled into the Special Forces, arrives home on a two weeks` leave, during which he meets and falls in love with Savannah. We saw it coming, but that doesn`t mean love has any less power over us. It comes as unexpectedly in reality as it does in this movie, as Savannah said at some point: “Two weeks together, that’s all it took, two weeks for me to fall in love with you.”
Their relationship continues over the next couple of years but the couple is separated by John`s continuous deployments. Their only contact is the constant letters they send each other and the brief time they spend together when John is on leave. It might sound like a cliché, but one could argue that her love letters are what kept John going through the terrible experience that is war.
Dear John takes us through different stages of emotion, from smiles to tears and intense moments. The acting is quite good, Channing Tatum having successfully played a young soldier with many repressed feelings. The other significant secondary story, that of John`s lonely father, as well. John`s voice at the beginning of the film is addressed to his father, confessing that the first thing to cross his mind after he was shot was coins, and the last thing to cross his mind before he lost consciousness was his dad, ultimately the most precious person in his life.
This story vibrates of nostalgia, as the connection between the two is kept through letters. It is proof that romance can never get old even in more modern days, and that`s what makes this movie a definite must see.