Dear Mickey, Love Melinda

Author(s): Bryce (CA)
Dear Micky, Love Melinda

Directed by: James Mangold
Written by: Robert Rodat
Produced by: Cathy Konrad, James Mangold, and Mark Gordon

Principal Cast

Milo Ventimiglia as Micky Donald
Kelly Macdonald as Melinda Eckhard
William Hurt as Colonel James Trout
Michael Shannon as Alex Cooper
Adrian Pasdar as Hans Diederick
Kevin J. O'Connor as Albrecht Friedrich

Tagline: "A letter that was too late, A chance that is too futile, and A journey that may be too hopeless"

Synopsis: This letter was sent on February 14, 1939

"Dear Melinda,
I am sorry to be writing almost two years after we had met. I hope you remember me, we met in New York, remember? I really enjoyed the night we spent with each other, that is why I feel I owe you some sort of explanation for taking this long to write to you. I never told you this, but before I met you I lived a very bad life. The things I had done were terrible. To be truthful, that day when we first met I was planning to kill myself. But then I saw you. The clumsy foreign girl. I don't know what it was about you, but that day you single handedly gave me the confidence I needed to get my life together. It's because of you that I have achieved great wealth, and have fixed my relationships with my family. I want to see you again. Maybe you can come back to New York. I would be willing to pay for you and your family. By the way, how is your family? I remember you had to leave because there was trouble in your home country. Anyway, I hope you get this letter and you give my offer some thought. It would make me very happy to see you again.
Love, Micky"

Micky's letter was received three months later. Melinda's letter was written shortly after and sent shortly after. However, her letter didn't get to Micky until April 14, 1942.

"Dear Micky,
How could I ever forget the boy I met in New York, who had such crazy ambitions. Looks like they weren't so crazy after all. I'm glad to hear about your success. I would of loved to be around you more than I had gotten the chance to, but tensions with the Germans in my country is becoming dangerous. It's a miracle that I even received your letter. For the last two years my family have been able to stay alive because of my father's wealth. The Germans are greedy people, but this actually helped us stay alive. However wealth is no longer a factor anymore, and me and my family must go into hiding. I am deeply sorry to say that this will be my last letter to you until everything is safe again. That night we spent together was the most fun I ever had. I still wear the bracelet you gave to me every single day. I will try my best to stay out of harms way. I guess I will be the one with the crazy ambitions, but I have faith we will meet again in the future. Love Melinda"

Three years.....Three years ago Melinda had received Micky's letter, and now Micky has finally received her letter. He drops to the floor, dropping the letter that is three years too late. He never got to tell her how he really felt about her. He never got to tell her that his love for her grew ever since they met each other. He never got to tell her that she has been on his mind every single day since they met. He never got to show her the engagement ring he had bought.

Is Melinda even still alive? A question that plagued Micky's every thought. A question Micky was not going to let stay in his mind. Getting help from his father's old comrade, Colonial James Trout, he was able to venture off to her hometown that had been occupied by the Nazi Regime, in hopes of finding Melinda...or at least finding out what happened to her. Once he arrived Colonial Trout assigned Private Alex Cooper to aid him in his search, and gave them the aid of a German captive by the name of Albrecht Friedrich to navigate the group.

Meanwhile, as Micky and his crew come closer to finding the answer they seek, the story of what happened during the last three years of Melinda's life is revealed. Melinda and her family were brought to concentration camps, were most of her family were killed. Melinda was struggling to stay alive. If it wasn't for her beauty, and her "talents" in bed, she would of been dead by now. The soldier Melinda feared the most was Hans Diederick, who became known as the devil incarnate around the captives in the concentration camps. However, as time went by Hans began to be infatuated with Melinda. His killings slowly stopped, and Hans' superiors started taking notice, wondering if his priorities had changed. To make matters worse, Melinda's talents were soon becoming obsolete as the new batches of female captives were brought in. Luckily for Melinda, Hans had literally fallen in love with the mesmerizing Melinda. Even though his love was mysterious, he made it his life duty to make sure Melinda was kept alive.

Micky arrives in what appears to be an abandoned concentration camp. It looked as if a riot had happened, and was followed by a fire big enough to burn almost everything. But what made this concentration camp interesting, was what was found in the sleeping quarters of the camp. It was the bracelet that Micky gave to Melinda, and blood was on it. However, what made Micky excited about seeing the bracelet with spots of blood, was the fact that the blood was recent. According to Alex, the blood was only a few hours old. Could Melinda still be alive? Or will Micky find a truth that he doesn't want to believe? "Dear Micky, Love Melinda" is the story about how far one will go just to say I love you.

What The Press Would Say

I first saw "Dear Micky, Love Melinda" at the Cannes film festival months ago. After seeing it again my thoughts have remained the same. The movie is intriguing, interesting, passionate, and griping. Boasting a pitch perfect pace, the film never has a stale or dull moment. The movie is a journey that promises to test the limits of a man and woman's courage, love, compassion, determination, durability, and ego. A journey that will be just as unpredictable to the audience as to it's characters.

The structure of the movie was brilliantly planned by the movie's talented screenwriter and the movie's talented director James Mangold, who has been increasingly showing his mastery of direction. The movie starts off like "Sunset Blvd" and "Casino", right dab in the middle/end of the movie, where Micky first enters the abandoned concentration camp. Then it flashes back to the night when Micky and Melinda first met, and follows a straight timeline until Micky and his crew begin their journey. Once that happens, the story is embedded with flashbacks of what Melinda had to go through, and the movie stays like that until it's climatic ending. It's the filmmaking that help makes what may seem like an unoriginal idea, into a invigorating and interesting movie.

All the performances in the movie are solid, and everyone pulls off the appropriate accents that their character should have. Milo Ventimiglia's character is so blinded by hopes and dreams, and the feeling that he owes something to Melinda, that it almost becomes tragic to even look at him. The performance is both hauntingly tragic and sincerely touching at the same time. Kelly Macdonald's performance is also amazing. Her scenes in the flashbacks of the concentration camps are very powerful. Seeing the pain that she goes through as she witnesses each of her family members brutally killed is just horrifying. She also becomes the "slut" of the camp, sleeping with various Nazi soldiers in order to stay alive. I think the filmmakers wanted to show the purity leaving Melinda every time she commits a sexual act, and I think Macdonald was able to successfully show this. It seems as if the beauty that was so mesmerizing to everyone diminishes every time she has sex or is raped. Adrian Pasdar performance as the ruthless Nazi general was also a noteworthy performance. His performance falls short of what Ralph Fiennes achieved in "Shiendler's List" but it's still a great performance. His character becomes infected with the same love ideals that Melinda and Micky has, and as a result his ruthless ways are replaced with empathy. Seeing the coldness in Pasdar's eyes and soul turn into warmth and compassion is an amazing transformation that Pasdar was fully able to accomplish. This will be Pasdar's breakthrough role.

The movie is a lot more than what has been said. It's one of those movies you definitely have to see yourself, and not take anyone else's word except for yours. "Dear Micky, Love Melinda" will be ranked up there as one of the best of this year, a gem that no one should miss.

Best Picture
Best Director- James Mangold
Best Actor- Milo Ventimiglia
Best Actress- Kelly Macdonald
Best Supporting Actor- Adrian Pasdar
Best supporting Actor- Michael Shannon
Best supporting Actor- Kevin J. O'Connor
Best Original Screenplay- Robert Rodat