Love Takes Wing

One thing that can be said for Lou "La Bamba" Diamond Phillips' rendering of Janette Oke's pseudo-feminist Christian parable Love Takes Wing is that it matches his particular directorial sensibilities much better than, say, his narcissistic early '90s softcore effort, Dangerous Touch, requiring no metaphysical exploration, aside from a resounding cheer that God is super-keen. Resultantly, this seventh instalment of Oke's teen Western franchise is decent, as far as Hallmark television movies go, featuring competent performances and a reasonably engaging storyline. It does, however, differentiate from the novel on which it's based, killing off a male character and making plucky protagonist Belinda (Sarah Jones) a bleached-blonde, badly wigged doctor, which is unlikely to please fans of the series. In this story, Belinda grieves over the loss of her husband to tuberculosis while struggling with her new role as town doctor in the community of Sikeston, where Cholera is spreading like wildfire. The local townspeople, led by two-dimensional baddie Ray Russell (Lou Diamond Phillips), blame an orphanage run by Hattie Clarence (Cloris Leachman) for infecting everyone with the illness, causing drama as Belinda and her best friend (Haylie Duff) try to find a cure for the illness. Meanwhile, town blacksmith/resident hottie Lee Owens (Jordan Bridges) gets Belinda a little hot and bothered, which stirs up mixed feelings of grief and confusion. Within this story is a Christian message of faith, as Belinda questions God's existence after her husband is taken from her, which inevitably leads to an optimistic (or cynical and defeatist) message of fatalism and religious fervour. It's pedestrian, cheap and linguistically repetitive but young girls and their churchgoing mothers should find some pleasure in the material despite its darker set up. No special features are included.