Love Takes Wing, the seventh book in Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series, was turned into a television movie in 2009. Like the book of the same title, this storyline focuses on the character of Belinda, who viewers met in the movie, Love's Unending Legacy. However, the timelines between the book and the movie simply don't match up.
In the book, Belinda is the daughter of Marty and Clark Davis, who trains to be a nurse and ends up heading to Boston with Mrs. Stafford-Smythe to care for her. In the movie series, Belinda, the adopted daughter of Missie and Zach Tyler, meets Mrs. Stafford-Smythe in Anderson Corner and cares for her until she is well enough to return to Boston (Love's Unfolding Dream).
Fans of the book series may have issues with the total liberty that the writers of Love Takes Wing and Love Finds A Home (the eighth in the series) take with the source material, but since timeline and storyline changes happened before, this is bound to present challenges.
After Drew's death, Dr. Belinda Simpson (now played by Sarah Jones) travels with her friend from medical school, Annie, played by Haylie Duff, to Sikeston, Missouri, to care for the townsfolk when they take sick with a mysterious illness. Ray Russell (Lou Diamond Phillips) blames the orphans and their caretaker, Hattie Clarence (Cloris Leachman), and insists they be run out of town. However, the town's mayor (Patrick Duffy) encourages the Town Council to give Belinda time to cure them. And with the help of Lillian (Annalise Basso), one of the orphans, she just might have a chance.
Lee Owens (Jordan Bridges), the town's blacksmith, is smitten with Belinda from the start. But still hurting from the loss of Drew, and with time running out before the town loses faith in her abilities, he must patiently bide his time. Helping Belinda in whatever way he can, he must have faith that Belinda will one day come around.
The team that wrote and produced Love Takes Wing used what had been successful in prior movies--faith, family, adoption, death of a spouse--to bring Belinda's story to life. Belinda and Annie arrive in Sikeston, a primitive town, where Belinda has been hired to take over the clinic. Facing the expected discrimination, especially from men, as a female doctor, she finds it hard to find her path. Separated from her family, Belinda corresponds with her mother, Missie Tyler (Erin Cottrell), who appears a few times as she reads letters from and writes letters to her daughter. Viewers saw this in Love's Long Journey, as Clark wrote to his daughter Missie across the miles.
There are so many things Love Takes Wing and its actors portray well, but here are some of my favorites:
- Belinda's loss of faith and the anguish she feels after not being able to save her own husband
- The fear of the unknown disease threatening the entire town, which leads to irrational behavior
- The developing relationship between Lee and Belinda and Lillian and Belinda
- The point where Belinda realizes she needs God's help
What I truly missed is the rest of the Davis family. That's to be expected as a series moves along. In the book series, fans get a chance to see the Davis family again, but the last time movie fans get to see the family is at the end of Love's Unfolding Dream. Despite that, I felt this was a strong addition to the Love Comes Softly movie series, and Lou Diamond Phillips, who directed this film, kept the right feel to it so this movie was consistent with what viewers had come to expect.
- MPAA rating : Unrated (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.56 x 5.32 x 7.58 inches; 2.56 Ounces
- Item model number : 2258089
- Director : Lou Diamond Phillips
- Media Format : NTSC, Subtitled, Dolby, Color, AC-3, Widescreen, Multiple Formats
- Run time : 1 hour and 28 minutes
- Release date : May 5, 2009
- Actors : Patrick Duffy, Cloris Leachman, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jordan Bridges, Haylie Duff
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish
- Language : English (Dolby Surround), French (Dolby Surround), Spanish (Dolby Surround), Unqualified (DTS ES 6.1)
- Studio : 20th Century Fox
- ASIN : B001TOPYY8
I own this DVD. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.
