This is a kissing movie. Princess Bride is a classic tale of daring adventure, intrigue, treachery, feats of valor and of course, true love. True love is something that every person dreams of sometime in their life, however, no one can quite agree on a solid definition. The skeptics simply say that it does not exist, the fairy stories and fiction fantasies promise that there is a world of rainbows and cotton candy with the perfect “other” for everyone no matter who they are. Other books tend to begrudgingly accept true love’s existence for the sake of their readers’ weaker sentiments, films just complicate everything by indoctrinating their audiences into the cult of “follow your heart.” Truly, is love a feeling, an action, a legend, a lie, or a very present reality? The Princess Bride is a movie adapted from a fairy story that has become a family favorite and an all around cult-classic because of the simplistic, endearing and slightly ridiculous characters, the ever popular “handsome-rogue-rescues-princess” theme and of course because of the pure truth of what love is lies hidden among the hilarity and tackiness.
In the story the characters are pencil sketches of real life. They are living in a black and white world where men are either cowardly or brave, good guys or bad guys, and right and wrong are ever confused. They live in a perfect world. The thought, the very fabric of this movie, is that any good person who lives in the perfect fantasy world will see their lives work out in the end no matter what, the bad guys always get what they deserve and the hero always gets the girl. The author himself can kill his heroes and create impossible barricades of hopelessness as high as “The Cliffs of Insanity” but that will not be enough to stop the characters’ love from reaching its ultimatum because this is a fairy tale where everything works out just as it should. The diction of the actors in the movie is flowery and as old as story telling. It feels familiar, like it has been written in a dream from long ago. Each heart at some point in its song of beating longs for such sweet words be whispered to it as those given to the heroine by the hero, “Death cannot stop true love.” and “I will always come for you.” He whispers the same vows of eternal faithfulness, honor and goodness that haunt the skeleton every heroic story that we cherish. Humans share an avid desire to be loved truly and in spite of themselves and their short comings.
The song of the movie, or the sound track, is simple. There are a handful of themes and gaps of silence that bow out gracefully to the character’s dialogue. Nothing legendary, just enough music to compliment the acting and keep silence from injuring the story. The spectacle of the film is a strange mix of realistic backdrops and fantastical ones. Everything is realistic enough to not cause visual alarm that brings in disinterest along with disbelief, yet it is all fantastical enough to not allow the scenery to be easily placed as belonging in this world. The Princess Bride is a beautiful story that has unfortunately been spread a little too thin over the imaginations of the viewers to be called a masterpiece but it conveys the simplicity of loving without reservation. Love is is timeless and that is what makes the Princess Bride a classic.
The plot and characters of the Princess Bride are enjoyable if without depth; the perfect fairy tale. Wesley or the Man in Black, is the loyal lover of Buttercup, the commoner princess. It is a stereotypical platform for a story worthy of remberance. These two characters are supplemented by Indigo Montoya, a spaniard with an over developed sense of honorable vengeance, Vizzini, a midget with an ego twenty times his size whose art is that of starting wars, and Fezzik, a giant who has a heart as large as he is. The comic Vizzini and his two wannabe henchmen are contrasted by three slimy villains who’s hearts are as black and cold as their lies, Prince Humperdink, Count Rugen, and their own would-be henchman, a creepy albino servant. These three kill Wesley but are even then defeated by the efforts of Miracle Max and his witch of a wife. The plot itself runs as someone would expect it to. A young man falls in love with a beautiful woman who treats him like a worthless varlet then after persistent sweetness the young woman falls in love with him. The young man, who is of course Wesley, goes off to seek his fortunes. Five years later Buttercup looses hope and is made to be engaged to the prince of the land, Prince Humperdink. The last thing that Wesley says to his lady is: “Hear this now, I will always come for you.” Buttercup replies tearfully, “How can you be sure?” Wesley consoles her gently: “This is true love, you think this happens every day?” This definition of love is intriguing because it puts it forth as a rarity.
Love by Wesley’s reckoning is enduring faithfulness no matter what the cost. He mentions nothing about enduring affection, nothing about following his heart, Wesley promises to always come for Buttercup. For him it is always as simple as that. He has promised to never to abandon her to any evil thing even her own devises and he keeps his promise. This is really and truly what love is. Throughout the story Wesley holds true to his word and treasures it in his heart and never lets go of it, thus, proving his love to be true to Buttercup. Princess Buttercup is a very empty character. She does nothing and always requires saving yet Wesley loves her with all his heart and soul. He loves her enough to stay alive through almost every hardship and even comes back from the grave for his love when killed by Prince Humperdink, Count Rugen and their albino.
Wesley is not written in with a discernible flaw. This is vitally important because Wesley’s role in the story is to be a picture of love itself in his dealings with Buttercup. The princess does not deserve him yet he promises to always come for her and keeps his nearly impossible vow. That is love. Undeserved sacrifice. Such an element is that which is desired by all people and in creating a film that enshrines that theme it gives power to its flat characters. The advantage of a story with all an all one dimensional cast is the young may enjoy and understand as may the old, the in between, the hurting, those looking for a laugh, those without any expectations at all and those looking for truth. There is no secret message it is a story being told for everyone simply for the love of stories. But the very nature of stories is to convey truth or the lack of it. In the Princess Bride the entire drama echoes of another, older, more passionate story. That of Christ and His church. The undying and undeserved love of Jesus for His church is found slowly seeping through the crack of the rough frames of the movie.
The Princess Bride is a great story and like all great stories Jesus Christ’s fingerprints are visible in the clay. The hero, Wesley, is a mirrored shadow of Christ, a distant parallel, but still a parallel. Both were perfect men who loved deeply unto death. Both were abandoned by their first love for another, Wesley for Prince Humperdink and Christ for false gods. Both redeemed their loves by their death. Both were considered “rogue agents” by the corrupted law of the land. Both win in the end and bring fulfillment to the people around them. Both redefined the common understanding of love. When asked what the greatest commandment was Jesus replied “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The greatest commandment laid down by God himself is to love. Jesus laid down his life, purchased righteousness and eternal peace for those he loved and came back from the grave. Wesley laid down his life as the reward for coming after Buttercup and then came back to life through the endeavors of Miracle Max and purchased peace for himself, Buttercup, and those around him. In tales and in real life the act of loving truly is absolutely difficult and often requires life sacrifice and a great deal of unpleasantness.
In the Princess Bride sentiment and wishful thinking prevail and the villain Count Rugen dies and the slimy prince is robbed of his bride and his dignity as the true lovers ride away into the sunset and kiss each other tenderly with a pure and beautiful kiss that “…leaves them all behind.” Thus ends the adventure in a way that leaves the expectant audience satisfied and grinning. With all the tawdriness there lies a story of what love really is underneath the gaudy exterior. Wesley leaves in the minds of the viewers Christ’s definition of true love. The act of loving is an act of bleeding, an act of undeserved sacrifice. Wesley and Jesus teach that the reward of loving is not in the act itself but in glorifying the object loved.
Coffee and Cellos 