There are times in my life when I'm the mood to make myself cry (or try to), and for two years now, it always happens around July (because I always wanna check that I still have a heart before my birthday? :P). As if on cue, My Sister's Keeper comes to the big screen. I've heard good reviews on the book, knew a little about the story and thought I'd pull what I'd like to call a Kite Runner (i. e., watch the movie first, then have the movie convince me to read the book, the way The Kite Runner worked for me). Also, because I was of the impression it is a movie about sisters (something I can relate to because I heart my sister and would be willing to give her my kidney if she needs it, even if I'm scared sh*t of surgery), I really had high hopes it is the movie that finally makes me cry (unfortunately/fortunately, noone was willing to bet that I would).So what happened? If you wanna know...
Imagine my disappointment when the movie did not even make a dent. I think part of it was the awareness that the movie had tearjerker strewn all over it, and me just being, well, me (totally empathy-challenged). After reading about the differences between the movie and the book (thank you, wikipedia), I realized it was because the movie played out quite expectedly. And while I usually prefer that movies are not that faithful to the books they were spun from, I actually wished this particular one stayed faithful to the ending.
This post does not purport to justify one sister's death over the other (and now, I read like a risk disclosure statement? :D). After all, it is particularly difficult to think of death as justified, especially that of a young girl. However, from a completely literary perspective, there is an element of surprise in the book's ending, and it is it that could have brought out more emotions, mine in particular.
I'm not a fan of Jodi Picoult, but after reading the book, I can now see how a fan can be enraged with how the movie adaptation completely ripped off the book. In fairness to the movie though, to capture what makes the book a good read is incredibly tough. Because the central conflict is such a morally, ethically and emotionally gray matter, the devil is truly in the details, in the introspective look into the characters, which is not something easy to capture visibly, except in the form of memories (which the movie had a loooot of). The good thing about the movie though is that it attempted to eject humor and playfulness amidst such sad circumstances better than the book did.
As with most adaptations, the movie also had to sacrifice some subplots for conciseness and so the movie won't run 4 hours long (duh!). The most notable of these left out subplots is the Campbell-Julia love story (the lawyer and the guardian ad litem who is not even in the movie). While I like their story, I appreciate its exclusion from the movie because it focused the spotlight on the Taylor-Kate love story (that the book rushed), which is just simply sweet and cute, however short-lived. :(
Armed with a hindsight of 20/20, would I have watched the movie after having read the book? Probably out of curiosity, but not with as much eagerness. I'm hoping the next movie I see based on a book turns out to be much better than the book.
Now go ahead and make my wish come true, The Time Traveler's Wife. ;)
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