Purple Hearts (2022) Film Review

Movie Rating

Director: Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum

Movie Cast: Cassie Salazar (Sofia Carson), Luke Morrow (Nicholas Galitzine), Frankie Mubuthia (Chosen Jacobs), Riley (Breana Raquel), Johnno (Anthony Ippolito), Armando (Nicholas Duvernay).

Introduction

Purple Hearts is a Romance/Musical Drama film directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum and distributed by Netflix productions. It was initially released on the 29th of July, 2022. 

Synopsis

Purple Hearts follows the story of two strong, opposing forces coming together to marry solely for military benefits. This movie encompasses the thin lines between pretense and reality; hate and love.

Review

**Contains Spoilers**

“I want to be the one you run back to.”

Cassie Salazar is an aspiring musician and songwriter who performs in a band while juggling odd jobs, including being a – Waitress/Bartender, Piano lesson teacher, and Food delivery driver, to earn a living. Despite her various sources of income, Cassie struggles to pay for her medical bills as she has type 1 diabetes but doesn’t have a decent job to cover her health insurance. She lives with her single mom, who is also an Immigrant and remains persistent despite all her challenges. 

Luke, a patriotic US Marine preparing for deployment. He is a former drug addict with a troubled past, but he is willing to reconcile with his past, earn his father’s respect, making his father and the country proud by joining a military group, The Marines. However, he is in a major financial crisis as he owes his former drug dealer, Johnno, a huge sum. 

Frankie plays an important role in this movie as he is Cassie’s childhood friend and Luke’s comrade and bunkmate. He connects these two opposing strangers when they reunite at a bar Cassie works at. 

When Cassie and Luke realize that they are each weighing heavy financial debts, they agree to a fake marriage arrangement for the health and military, monetary benefit with no strings attached. But, how long can the pretense hold when feelings become involved? Will they eventually fall in love with one another? Or would the lines between pretend romance and real life get crossed?

Sofia Carson has played memorable characters in movies like Netflix’s “Feel the Beat” and “Songbird.” She is most known for her role as Evie in the Disney “Descendants” movies. She also starred in the Pretty Little Liars spin-off series “Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists.” Sofia gives as expected in Purple Hearts, an Independent, strong beautiful young woman, a hustler with a great passion for singing and songwriting.

One thing I like in ‘Purple Hearts’ from the expressions and acting is that love can be more than romance and intimacy. Love can exist in pain, tragedy, compassion, respect, grief, and companionship. There is no perfect love story, and the flawed characters in this movie exemplify that, especially as they are two young people with vastly different political and socio-cultural worldviews.

This movie also brings to light that a Long-Distance relationship is not a barrier, as there is commitment, trust, and communication between the partners involved. In the movie, after Luke gets deployed to the marines, the newlyweds communicate and get to know more about each other through music, emails, video calls, texts, and voice notes. 

However, in my opinion, Purple Hearts is rather Predictable; the old-fashioned Opposite poles attract; enemies turned lovers’ storyline. One can tell the end from the beginning, so it was neither exciting nor entertaining. 

There was a strong sense of Misogyny in the movie, along the lines of Racism and feminism. 

At the beginning of Purple Hearts, one could tell Cassie had serious Low Insulin attacks from her health issues and inability to refill her bottle. Later in the movie, Cassie is not shown to struggle with her diabetes, an illness that affects people’s daily lives.

I wonder if the movie was centered on musical concerts and shows rather than a romance story between Cassie and Luke. Furthermore, I sensed more connection between Cassie and her music career than her relationship with Luke. She sang about eight songs, and her band performed at different concerts around the globe– achieving her childhood dreams and aspirations.

Lastly, it was difficult to tell when the young people fell in love or if they kept hating each other. There were many switch-ups, and when it looked like something beautiful came forth, they all went straight back to square one. Everything came crashing down at the end when she finally professed her love. It was all too confusing and rushed to grasp.

I would recommend this movie to Romance movie lovers and aspiring musicians.

Similar genre – First Love

You can watch Purple Hearts on Netflix or download it here

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