If we’re being honest, I am not a religious person. As a matter of fact, I am anything but. Maybe that’s why movies that contain a pastor and sermons, are just not for me. If anything, they make me feel preached to.
And then they make me feel bad for not being religious. BUT, I have my beef with God, and so here we are. I am just left with wondering (as I do every religious holiday) where I can find the faith that all of these people seem to have. And movies like An Easter Bloom make me think about faith, my lack of feeling it, and where I am wrong for not doing just that.
So yes, An Easter Bloom wasn’t my favorite out of principal. If I take my personal feelings out of it though, my feelings on the movie change. When removing my personal beef with movies that feel preachy, An Easter Bloom was a movie that did exactly what it was supposed to do – it delivered on Easter.
It delivered on faith.
The gist? A young gardener sets out to save her family farm by entering a floral competition for Easter. She meets a local pastor along the way who helps her restore the hope she lost.
Amanda, played by Aimeé Teegarden, is a farmer, whose farm is failing because of the delayed bloom. Her families farm is flowers and it’s really quite a unique mode – they allow people to pick their own flowers and create their own bouquets. I call it economical farming and quite frankly, I ain’t mad about it.
Benjamin Hollingsworth is the new local pastor. He’s kinda secretive about who he is and what he wants to do. For him, he feels like as a pastor, he needs to project a certain image. Amanda can’t understand why he doesn’t want people to know him, because it makes him who he is.
And to her that’s a good thing.
Amanda and Derrick keep having a lot of interactions, where you think that there are going to find their way to each other, there of course are road blocks along the way.
Amanda feels that she has to save the farm and figuring out how to do that isn’t going to be an easy thing. It’s going to be difficult and it leads her to a flower arranging contest. The top prize is $20,000 which would be enough to tide the farm over.
Through a bunch of help, Amanda is taught the principals of flower arranging. The principles are harmony, contrast, purpose, balance, and love. All seem easy enough, but are quite difficult. Though, Amanda finds herself rising to each challenge and find acceptance of herself along the way.
What makes this movie good is that you realize that you don’t really know any of these characters, but you are always going to be learning something about them. You’ll learn about the way that they are willing and ready to be there for each other. You’ll learn about the way that they all see things differently and yet, find a safety in each other and their traditions.
And you’ll find that they all are just looking for a way to relate to each other. Every character in this movie has their secrets, their pain, and their way of finding comfort and solitude. I think that’s part of what makes the movie good. The characters are relatable.
They feel real.
But what I also loved is that they are not all perfect. They have flaws and everything isn’t going to just happen. They are going to win and they are going to fail. But they are all going to grow.
And what’s more beautiful than that?