unorganized

That's the one word that comes to mind when I try and sum up how I felt after watching this movie. I understand the point the movie is trying to make: that you must keep fighting in the face of adversity. This was a valliant attempt at making that point. The story in and of itself is beautiful, but, I just felt that what needed to be a mini-series was packed into a film. There was too much going on. The candle motif was overrated and underexplained. The love scene between Jason and Pip (other soldier) was unnecessary, I felt, and only added confusion. Plus, what happened to the singer that Jason fell in love with?? After seeing how Jason devoted himself to the singer, supposedly, then loved the other soldier, I expected Pip and Clark to wind up with one another. The point is that it was too confusing. Just becasue homosexuality, abortion, pre-marital pregnancy, drug use, street life, and sexual abuse are taboo topics doesn't mean that slapping them all together in a movie makes it ground-breaking. Times may change, but tasteful delivery of messages through art doesn't. I would give this movie a 6. I didn't feel I wasted my time. Obviously the writer was trying to make a beautiful point. I like the message, but I thought it was overdone. Just leave it basic. That was the first advice Randy Benson gave my film class when he gave a lecture to us: "Keep it simple, stupid!" There were too many characters with too much motivation with too many problems with too many stories...as confusing as that sentence was, the movie was equal. I think that had Pip had a meaningful relationship (or at least somethign that didn;t go from one night to one and a half months out of nowhere), it would have made it more believable. I don't know. I liked the movie, but it could have used work. I look forward to seeing more from this writer, and I'm sure it';ll improve.