Last night I watched a movie on television.
I am not a big movie person. Especially lately, my attention span seems best suited to short sitcoms. Twenty minutes, Betty White has shown us three new track suits and we’re done. Outta there, on to the next. Old sitcoms I’ve actually seen before are also good. I don’t have to wonder about the plot, I know it. I don’t know why, but I have less of a problem watching reruns than I do seeing a movie more than once.
The movie was on the Hallmark Channel, and Richard Gere played a professor who found a puppy at a train station. He and the puppy became inseparable. It has a very sad ending, which I won’t ruin for you, in case you want to see it (I am sure it will be shown again-it is the Hallmark Channel, after all).
By the end of the movie I was bawling. Big time, sobbing, make yourself red and blotchy bawling.
Let me just explain here. I am a large person. I am tough. I don’t cry. I am the one who comforts those who get emotional. At least I think that is the persona I display to the public. I haven’t taken a survey, but I think I am correct about that.
In fact, I well up as the flag goes by at a parade. I tear up at the weirdest things. Things that you would never expect to be emotional. And I usually don’t get emotional at the things that many other people find moving.
Apparently, a movie about a guy and his dog is something that hit a button with me. The love of the dog is what did it. Not the guy loving the dog, it was the dog’s love of Richard Gere’s character. That love was complete, unconditional, and unending. Overwhelming.
It still makes me teary as I think about it.
Sorry-I’ve got to go and find some Kleenex.
Just My Life 
I know what you mean about emotional responses to movies.
By: MysticMusician on January 16, 2011
at 1:28 pm
I will confess that sometimes a movie can draw a tear out of me. But then, that is often why they are made.
By: Robert the Skeptic on January 16, 2011
at 3:25 pm
Oh, Robert-I’ll bet you tear up over other things, like maybe your granddaughters’ accomplishments. I do think the writers of some stories and movies are going for the tears, but this was based on a true story. That made it all the more emotional.
By: chlost on January 16, 2011
at 8:27 pm
I have to avoid animal movies along lines such as these. When I was a child two of our dogs disappeared and then I saw a film about three dogs trying to cover hundreds of mile to get home. They did not all make it. That finished me off, I was useless for weeks and still bear the scars! So no more devoted, loving animal movies for me. Unless, one needs to grieve or cry and cannot, then of course they are good for opening the floodgates.
That total trust finishes me off every time. When my friend was dying of cancer she asked me to look after her affairs for her and to look after her too, and said she trusted me completely and she gave me a look of total trust that tore my heart to shreds.
By: sweffling on January 16, 2011
at 5:26 pm
I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I started watching this movie. I thought perhaps the story was about the man and his wife, as they were not doing so well with their relationship. You are right, it is the trust. I can never live up to it.
By: chlost on January 16, 2011
at 8:25 pm
I saw that movie through Netflix and as far as I know,it was based on a true story. Yep, I cried when I saw it and like you, I tend to tear up at the darnest things but dog stories always do for they have the same ending eventually due to the short life spans of the creatures.
Hay, a good cry is good for us, gets rid of all those toxins, so enjoy.
By: Arkansas Patti on January 16, 2011
at 7:40 pm
Yes, at the end they showed the real dog it was based on, which made it all the more sad. It was in Japan. Animals are so amazingly trusting of us, and so often we do not deserve that trust.
By: chlost on January 16, 2011
at 8:23 pm
I saw the preview for that film and you have confirmed what I suspected. I thiought about getting it from Netflix but I think I’ll wait until better weather arrives and my mood improves.
By: Kay Dennison on January 16, 2011
at 8:49 pm
Yes, I think you need to be in an okay mood to take this one on.
By: chlost on January 18, 2011
at 5:07 pm