This movie is the true story of Ernest Hemingway's World War I experience in Italy, and his first love, nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky. The filmakers are not totally sticking to the true story, but they dramatize and that is okay because it makes for a better film.

Young Hemingway could only go to the war (because of a bad eye) as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. Still, on the night of July 8, 1918, he is caught up in it and hit. Despite his own severe leg wound, (which comes close to requiring amputation) he heroically carried a comrade to help and insisted that the other man receive treatment before he did. He got some medals for this and a lot of shrapnel in his leg for the rest of his life.

While on the mend, he meets, the beautiful nurse, Agnes, played by Sandra Bullock and they fall in love although Agnes is quite a bit older than young Ernie Hemingway (played by Chris O'Donnell). War time means separation and sometimes that can mean the end of relationships.

In real life she dumped him by letter and he never got over it and never forgave her for his whole life.
Imagine having the most famous writer on the planet angry at you for forty plus years.

Then she is memorialized and killed off in one of his most famous novels, A Farewell to Arms.

Well, in the movie, it ends a little differently as she changes her mind and goes to him and he still rejects her.

I think the real Ernest Hemingway was a lot stronger than he's portrayed here. I think he ended up really, truly hating her for hurting him.

anyone who wants to learn something about an early episode of Ernest Hemingway's life. To understand his complicated relationships with women, you have to start with Nurse Agnes.

Sandra Bullock. She always does a great job.

read more about Agnes, so I ordered a book about her.

is very good - it is a lovely film.

This movie is a romantic trip back to World War I. Since I am interested in that time period now, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

This story became the basis for the novel, A Farewell to Arms, which I read a long time ago. Now, I want to read it again too.

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Created May 06, 2014 at 10:38am • Submit your own review...