Tip#12: Love Actually Is All Around - Love Actually

For some, the holidays are not a festive time. The season can magnify the things we don't have in our lives causing us to slip into dark, depressing moods. I know because I'm one of those people and this year it's a little more challenging then most.

Yes, even motivators need motivation sometimes and thankfully movies have always been there for me. And some movies are much more effective the second time around.

Love Actually (2003)

The romantic comedy, Love Actually is about several stories about family love and romantic love that intersect and connect in wonderful ways. This has become a Christmas classic and has an all-star cast that include Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kiera Knightly and Bill Nighy.

I surprised myself recently by seeing the film, Love Actuallyagain and having it fill me with such laughter and hope. It feels like an epic movie without any earth shattering special effects or a cast of thousands. It simply tells the story of many relationship examples of love with all its extreme joys and pain at Christmas. Hugh Grant's character says it all in the introduction at the start of the movie...

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends…

…When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

I read later that the images on the screen during this introduction are of real-life greetings and reunions filmed at a real airport. That was a powerful start to a rich and playful story. Seeing it a second time gave me the chance to see the film in a new light and definitely at a time in my life when my soul really needed a boost.

I highly recommend this movie if you are feeling alone and lost, looking for love or just to share it with a loved one. Note though that some scenes are not suitable for a younger audience.

Love Actuallywill entertain as much as provoke you to look at how you define love. And at the very least the amazingly vibrant soundtrack and use of songs by the characters will fill you with a magical kind of hope.

Emmanuel Lopez
www.motivatorman.com
© Emmanuel Lopez 2006