Bells that ring of hope and heartbreak
Bells that ring of hope and heartbreak
3 December 2022
Stephen Atherholt stars as the acclaimed poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the Christmas biopic I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. He is pictured here in happier times with his young family during the height of his fame. Photo by Sight & Sound Films - © 2022 Sight & Sound Ministries, Inc.
Christmas is a season of wonder, but when it coincides with grief, the pain can be too great for words. It begs the question: where is God when all is lost? Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow knew this question well, addressing it in his 1863 poem, Christmas Bells, which became the famous Christmas carol I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.
Henry becomes a shell of his former self and struggles to write and raise his children after the tragic death of his wife. Photo by Sight & Sound Films - © 2022 Sight & Sound Ministries, Inc.
Now in a biopic of the same name, we are treated to a beautiful retelling of his life. Equal parts heartbreaking and miraculous, you will want a box of tissues for this compelling story, starring Stephen Atherholt as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Jonathan Blair as his oldest son, Charlie.
Instead of showing us his climb to fame, we meet Longfellow as a middle-aged man, celebrating a marriage of 18 years and raising six children. With the United States on the verge of civil war, his poetry has become a national war cry. And while the future of his country is unclear, Longfellow’s joy at Christmas time is evident. He and his family have a profound Christian faith that gives them hope, especially during the holidays. Yet this all changes after he loses his wife in a fire, and America’s poet is brought to his knees.
Longfellow becomes a shell of a man unable to write or be emotionally available to his kids. In the midst of this, Henry tries to keep his 17-year-old son Charlie from going to war. Yet, unable to thwart the inevitable, he is confronted by the fear and pain he has tried to keep at bay since his wife’s death.
Set during the United States Civil War, Wadsworth’s son Charlie (played by Jonathan Blair, right) declares God must be sleeping or dead, such was the tragedy that had befallen his family.
It is here that Charlie shouts, “I will not put hope in a God who is sleeping or dead.” And while he goes to war to find answers, Henry must face his own internal battle. Is the God of hope that he once celebrated at Christmas really there? To find out, he must dare to believe that hope still exists and rings like the bells on Christmas day – but experiencing this requires more than naivety or denial. It requires him to dig deep, face the darkness and feel the weight of his grief.
I Heard the Bells is delightfully filled with nostalgia and Christmas imagery of small-town America. Depicting the realities of death and war, older kids will be better suited to this if you want to make a family night of it. But don’t expect fluff and jingle bells. Instead, I Heard the Bells resounds with the sacred depth of hope and heartbreak many of us silently experience in December.
Ultimately, it creates a safe space for us to ask the hard questions about God and leads us to the answer found in Longfellow’s famous words when he says, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
I Heard the Bells is rated PG for mild themes. Available at select cinemas from 1 December.
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