86. Falling in love is not easy

Love is wonderfully explained by Pascal, who said that the heart has its reasons, which reason does not know. 

So, why should we discuss something like love? But I will, because I can't resist myself today. Just bear with me, and unarguably, there is a lot to enjoy.

I always seize the opportunity to watch Irish short films after seeing Martin McDonagh’s ‘Six Shooter’, which won the Academy Award in 2006, and later ‘The Door’, also nominated in 2009. 

Last night I saw a 15-minute Irish short film, The Crush, which was awarded Best Irish Short at the 23rd Foyle Film Festival and was written and directed by Michael Creagh, with his nine-year-old son as the lead actor. 

The story follows an eight-year-old second-grader named Ardal Travis, who has a crush on his class teacher, Ms. Purdy (Olga Wehrly). 

The film opens in a classroom where Miss Purdy has asked her students to look up the three words 'reveal', 'pretend', and 'love'; concepts that encapsulate the entire film. 

When the bell rings and the entire class leaves, Ardal is still sitting. He stands up, approaches the class teacher, and gives her a toy ring as a sign of his affection. 

While Ms. Purdy puts the ring on her finger, Ardal asks: “Does this mean we're engaged?”

“Well, I hadn’t thought about it, if you want to, I suppose…Well, that’s very sweet and I’ll certainly give it some thought,” replies Ms. Purdy.

In the second scene, Ardal is out shopping with his mother when Ms. Purdy happens to meet them and happily shares that she and her fiancé, Pierce (Rory Keenan), just got engaged and that he has bought an engagement ring.

Ardal sees the real ring on her finger and is devastated.

Ms. Purdy wanted to go out for lunch to celebrate the hour-old engagement, but Pierce insisted on going home to watch football. Ardal feels bad about it.

As is said, love is like war; easy to start but very hard to end. So that evening, when Ardal sees his dad put a gun carefully in the closet, he begins contemplating his options. 

As Thomas Campbell wrote that broken hearts die slowly, Ardal was determined not to take a 'no' for an answer. 

So, a few days later, Ardal confronts Pierce, who is waiting impatiently for Ms. Purdy outside the school. Ardal then challenges Pierce to a deadly duel, which Pierce sarcastically agrees to. 

The next day, Ardal meets Pierce in the school yard. Pierce intentionally leaves his gun behind, but Ardal pulls a gun on him. At first, Pierce thinks it's just a toy, but Ardal insists it isn't. 

Ms. Purdy tries to intervene, but Ardal refuses to back down. 

Pierce, now truly concerned for his safety, becomes angry and eventually starts crying, admitting he never loved Ms. Purdy and only proposed to her to “shut her up.” 

Ardal fires the gun, the scene briefly blacks out, then reappears showing Pierce on the ground with his eyes open. 

It turns out that the gun was actually a toy Ardal’s father had been keeping in his closet for his birthday. 

Ms. Purdy angrily ends the engagement and breaks up with Pierce. She protectively walks Ardal out, agreeing to “keep this between ourselves." 

Ardal then tells Ms. Purdy that he has decided not to marry her because he is not financially stable enough to support all her needs and that someone as kind as her should have everything she desires. 

Ms. Purdy, charmed by his innocence, says, "Come on, Romeo, I'll get you home." 

They walk off into the distance, and the film ends. 

The film is so lovely, I watch it over and over.

Watching this film, I often envy the boy, Ardal, and reflect on how much harder it was for me without a teacher like Ms. Purdy— instead, I had gloomy ones who relied only on yelling and shouting.

I’m sharing the link and hope you all will enjoy it as much as I did because there is more than what I have revealed here.

(Click and enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTN3q_NjuWs)