Teen-Agers Surrender to Force of Romance in ‘Love and War’

They don’t know that much about love or war or Ernest Hemingway. But they know plenty about heartthrob Chris O’Donnell and pretty idol Sandra Bullock. With those two paired in an airbrushed story of doomed passion, the result is a near-perfect romantic fantasy for young teens.

“We just liked it because it was a love story,” said Kristy Arvidson, 14, of Irvine, speaking as well for friends Bridget McEvoy-Hein, 14, and Natalie Newquist, 13, both from Newport Beach.

The movie was just as romantic as their other favorites, “Romeo and Juliet” and “Love Story” and probably will be one they’ll rent over and over when it comes out on video, they said.

The girls didn’t care that they missed a brief scroll at the beginning of “In Love and War” explaining that the movie is based on the lives of literary lion Ernest Hemingway and his first love, Agnes von Kurowsky, who were among the Americans who joined the Red Cross to boost the morale of war-weary Italians in 1918. The two met in a hospital after Hemingway, while carrying candy to the trenches, was wounded in a mortar attack and Von Kurowsky saved his leg from amputation.

Historians debate what happened next in real life. But in the movie, Hemingway--still a teenager--persuades his nurse with his charm, his arrogance and his considerable vocabulary to consummate their relationship in the only private room around, a seaside bordello, even though she is also being courted by a rich Italian doctor.

When she ultimately writes him a Dear John letter that begins “Dear Kid,” he is angry, embittered and, apparently, marked for life.

Did the girls think the cute, cuddly O’Donnell was OK as the manly, macho Hemingway? Were we kidding? “He was better than OK,” Kristy said.

The girls weren’t familiar with Hemingway.

“I know he committed suicide. I know he was a really good writer,” Natalie said. “But I never read any of his novels.” They said they might be inspired now to pick up “A Farewell to Arms,” the book he wrote based on his alleged affair with Von Kurowsky.

The movie spares viewers excessive wartime gore, but there is one brief blood-spurting scene in a field hospital and a quick look at a mass grave. The couple’s single evening of passion jumps politely from frantic unbuttoning to silhouetted afterglow. The language is inoffensive.

Considering the fairy-tale buildup, the girls were surprised and let down by the lack of a fairy-tale ending. “It was a really good movie. I was just disappointed they didn’t get married,” Bridget said.

They all had a hard time understanding Von Kurowsky’s ambivalence; for them, there was no contest.

“I think she was confused,” Bridget said. “I would have gone with Chris O’Donnell.”