The Longest Ride

The Longest Ride is a Christian movie review. The review connects the themes of the film to themes in the Bible.

MOVIE SUMMARY:

A college gal (Britt Robertson) bound for a lofty internship in NYC falls in love with a North Carolina bull rider (Scott Eastwood). With their careers tearing them apart, both find inspiration in the stories an old man (Alan Alda) they rescued from a car wreck tells them about the love of his life.

Luke Collins (Scott Eastwood) is a bull rider on the Professional Bull Riders tour, who is seriously injured one night while performing. A year later after recovering, he starts riding again and meets Sophia Danko (Britt Robertson) after she attends the show. She is an art lover living at a sorority house with an internship secured in New York City. On the way home from their first date, they spot a car crash in the woods and help rescue an older man, Ira Levinson (Alan Alda), who is stuck inside. Sophia also pulls a wooden box from the vehicle. Sophia discovers a set of letters in the box. She reads them to Ira as he explains his life love story to his wife Ruth (Oona Chaplin). Over time, the young couple learn about love as they get closer to one another and sacrifice their careers for each other. This parallels the sacrifices made in Ira and Ruth’s life.

MOVIE REVIEW:

This is a movie about love. Just like The Notebook, another movie about a person who reflect on a life of love, this movie emphasizes married love. While there are two love scenes (which made the film PG-13), the film is generally family-friendly. The main theme is an exploration of love.

Love is Sacrifice

Throughout the film, the young couple learns about love as they get closer to one another and sacrifice their careers for each other (Ephesians 5:21-33). Their sacrifice parallels the sacrifices made in Ira and Ruth’s life for each other. Real love requires sacrifice as Ira says to the young couple.

Married Love is an Adventure

The other theme throughout the film is the idea that love is an adventure. When a man and woman get married, life ends up being an adventure. In the case of Luke and Sophia, a bull rider and a college student end up running an art gallery. In the case of Ira and Ruth, Ruth tells a young Ira that she wants a big family. Eventually, he proposes to her before leaving to fight in World War II. However, Ira is shot during an attack and is later informed by the doctor that he can no longer have children, news that causes a distance between him and Ruth when he returns because he knows how much she wants to be a mother. They decide to make it work regardless and move in together, decorating the house with many paintings that Ruth loves.

As both of these lives intertwine, one sees that both couples encounter challenges to their marriage as well as a few surprises. When God designed marriage, He never said it would be boring. Instead, married love is full of life (John 10:10). God expected a husband and wife to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 9:1). A couple can multiply by having children as well as through their influence. This film highlights both ways to multiply.

QUESTIONS:

The major theme in this film is love. In this case, a major theme is the idea of sacrifice. What kind of sacrifice have you experienced as a married couple?
When a man and women get married, they enter into an adventure. As a married couple, how has your life been an adventure?
Ira and Ruth don’t birth their own children. However, they multiplied their influence. How can a married couple multiply their influence with other people?