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Very Light Drama

I never read "The Light Between Oceans", M.L. Stedman's 2012 novel. If it is anything like the screen adaptation by Derek Cianfrance, I'm pleased about my missing it. Sadly, I didn't miss the film version.

All of my snotty "The book was better than the movie" friends no doubt would tell me that in this case, too. I have to believe the book was better by default alone. Otherwise how could it have been thought a good idea to bring it to the screen?Granted, bad books have been made into film disasters many times before. In case you have not gotten it yet, I hated this predictable, boring, manipulative, and unrealistic trash.

Tom (Michael Fassbender) is a World War I veteran. Like lots of survivors of war, he carries mental scars. His response to what he saw is to fall into an extremely quiet and reserved demeanor, not an unusual reaction. He takes the perfect job for someone who wishes to withdraw from everything. He is going to be a lighthouse keeper in a remote coastal town only reachable by boat. It's hard to be more alone than that.

To finalize his new working assignment, Tom must meet with those hiring him. Isabel (Alicia Vikander), a young woman living in the house where the meeting takes place immediately falls in love with him, even bringing up marriage, within a few hours. In a normal reality, this would scream crazy lady, but here it means true love, and they marry almost immediately. That is when I began to check out.

Soon, the happy couple is living at the lighthouse, and trying to get pregnant, but multiple miscarriages derail their efforts. Misery abounds until a small boat washes up near the lighthouse. There is a dead man in the boat, but there is also an infant girl that is alive. Instead of trying to find out who the people are, they decide to keep the child and raise her as their own, despite Tom's misgivings. Until then, Tom had been portrayed as incredibly honest and a do-gooder. That flies out the window.

The rest of "The Light Between Oceans" is supposed to be a tortured examination of right and wrong and the ramifications of the dishonest actions of the couple, but by then, all I wanted was for it to end. A few moments that are supposed to be tense follow until it does mercifully end. If only everyone involved had drowned earlier or a monster had risen from the sea and toppled the lighthouse on Tom and Isabel. Maybe that might have caused me to feel something.