Main Cast: Sandra Bullock, Chris O'Donnell, MacKenzie Astin, Emilio Bonucci, Ingrid Lacey
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 115 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
This romantic historical drama is based on the diaries of Agnes Von Kurowsky, who while serving as a nurse during World War I had a love affair with a young man who would later become one of the great literary figures of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway. In 1918, 18-year-old Hemingway has volunteered to fight in the great war; while he goes into battle imagining it to be a lark, he soon discovers that the realities of warfare are far more grim, and during a shelling attack in Italy, his leg is severely wounded. Hemingway has taken a great deal of shrapnel, and the doctors at the field hospital decide that amputation would be the quickest and most effective way to deal with the injury. However, the idea of losing a leg horrifies Hemingway, and he pleads with Agnes (Sandra Bullock), the Austrian nurse looking after him, not to let the doctors cut off his limb. Moved by Hemingway's concern, Agnes convinces the doctors to pursue other treatments, and she looks after him during his long and difficult convalescence. Love and passion bloom between the young and naive soldier and the 26-year-old nurse, but while he's eager for her to return home with him as he follows his muse as a writer, she regards him not as the love of her life but as a passing fling and thinks that he's too young to marry. Agnes eventually sends Hemingway a "Dear John" letter; later Hemingway would use her as the basis for several characters in his novels and short stories, not always flatteringly. In Love and War was directed by Richard Attenborough, previously an Academy Award winner for Gandhi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Margot Steinberg - Mabel "Rosie" Rose; Kaethe Cherney - Veta Markley; Carlo Croccolo - town mayor; Gil Filar - boy; Colin Fox - Dr Hemingway; Kay Hawtry - Grace Hemingway; Philippe Leroy - Count Sergio Caracciolo; Joseph Long - Italian doctor; Doreen Mantle - Emilia; Vincenzo Ricotta - Italian officer; George Rossi - Triage Medic; Terence Sach - porter; Avery Saltzman - Oak Leaves Reporter; Elena Smirnowa - Leicester Hemingway; Colin Stinton - Tom Burnside; Alan Bennett - porter; Richard Blackburn - Tribune Reporter; Richard Fitzpatrick - mailman; Rodger Barton - Sun Times Reporter; Tara Hugo - Katherine "Gumshoe" De Long; Ian Kelly - Jimmy McBride; Vincenzo Nicoli - Enrico Biscaglia; Rocco Quarzell - Roberto Zardini; Bruce Lidington - American surgeon; Nicholas Brooks - Louis Burton; Matthew Sharp - Larkin, Joseph; Noah Reid - boy; Tom Goodman-Hill - Houston Kenyon; Mindy Lee Raskin - Miller, Charlotte Anne; Rebecca Craig - Elena Crouch; Gigi Vivan - Italian child; Giuseppe Bonato - grandfather; Allegra Di Carpegna - Loretta Cavanaugh; Diane Witter - Adele Brown; Tracy Hostmyer - Ruth Harper; Lauren Booth - Anna Sconlon; Frances Riddelle - Katherine Smith; Wendi Peters - Rahn, Emily; Laura Nardi - Teresa; Maria Petrucci - Sonia; Valeria Fabbri - Anna Maria; Quinto Rolman - Italian Man; Raph Taylor - Francesco; Todd Curran - Skip Talbot; Tim McDonell - adjutant; Reno Porcaro - Italian photographer; Bruno Majean - Alberto Zardini; Roseline Garland - Carol Hemingway; Laura Martelli - Isabella Caracciolo; Cyril Taylor - maitre d'; Milan Rosandic - waiter
Credit
Aurelio Crugnola - Art Director, John King - Art Director, Guy Lalande - Art Director, Michael Lamont - Art Director, Neil Lamont - Supervising Art Director, Janis Rothbard Chaskin - Associate Producer, Clare Walker - Casting, Jeremy Zimmerman - Casting, Rene Haynes - Casting, Elite Productions - Casting, George Fenton - Conductor, Diana Hawkins - Co-producer, Penny Rose - Costume Designer, Patrick Clayton - First Assistant Director, Luca Lachin - First Assistant Director, Michael Stevenson - First Assistant Director, Robert Pierre Cote - First Assistant Director, Ian Stone - First Assistant Director, Terry Madden - First Assistant Director, Pierantonio Nowara - First Assistant Director, Sean Clayton - First Assistant Director, Jerry Daly - First Assistant Director, Normand Labelle - First Assistant Director, Marie-Josee Leroux - First Assistant Director, Richard Attenborough - Director, Arthur Wooster - Second Unit Director, Lesley Walker - Editor, Sara Risher - Executive Producer, Andre Duval - Hair Styles, Hilary Haines - Hair Styles, Raymond Laliberte - Hair Styles, Enrico Ballarin - Location Manager, Luisa Amendola - Location Manager, Hugh Harlow - Location Manager, Ladis Zanini - Location Manager, George Fenton - Composer (Music Score), Mark Kaufman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Eliza Thompson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Sallie Evans - Makeup, Jeremy Woodhead - Makeup, Camille Bélanger - Makeup, Christiane Fattori - Makeup, Alex Lambert - Makeup, Simon Ransley - Camera Operator, Stuart Craig - Production Designer, Roger Pratt - Cinematographer, Richard Attenborough - Producer, Dimitri Villard - Producer, Keith Grant - Recording, Stephenie McMillan - Set Designer, Dean Humphreys - Sound Mixer, Tim Cavagin - Sound Mixer, David Allen - Sound Mixer, Simon Kaye - Sound/Sound Designer, Jonathan Bates - Sound/Sound Designer, Gerry Humphreys - Sound/Sound Designer, Eddie Stacey - Stunts Coordinator, Raffaele Battistelli - Special Effects Supervisor, Guido Cerasuolo - Unit Production Manager, Richard Lalonde - Unit Production Manager, Judi Bunn - Unit Production Manager, Mario Nadeau - Unit Production Manager, Dimitri Villard - Screen Story, Allan Scott - Screen Story, Anna Hamilton Phelan - Screenwriter, Dimitri Villard - Screenwriter, Clancy Sigal - Screenwriter, Allan Scott - Screenwriter, Tim Wooster - Second Unit Camera, Antony Hunt - Visual Effects Supervisor, Tony Doyle - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Carla Fry - Executive in Charge of Production, Kevin Lane - Music Editor, Emily Glatter - Production Coordinator, Leila Kirkpatrick - Production Coordinator, Helene Ross - Production Coordinator, Caterina Zebini - Production Coordinator, Jeremy Woodhead - Prosthetic Makeup Effects, Nikki Clapp - Script Supervisor, Suzanne Clegg - Script Supervisor, Richard Conway - Special Effects Coordinator, Gorden Harmer - Costume/Wardrobe, Mark F. Holmes - Costume/Wardrobe, Sue Honeyborne - Costume/Wardrobe, Roy Burge - Dialogue Editor, Mike Crouch - Dialogue Editor, Pauline Griffiths - Foley Artist, Peter Holt - Foley Editor, Adrianna A.J. Cohen - Production Executive, Brian Bishop - Scenic Artist, Doug Bishop - Scenic Artist, Trefor Proud - Second Unit Makeup, Wanda Kelly - Second Unit Makeup, Denise Rich - Storyboard Artist, Magic Camera Co. - Visual Effects, Stephanie McMillan - Set Decorator, Anne Galea - Set Decorator, Pierre L'heureux - Set Decorator, Chris Kenny - Supervising Producer, James Nagel - Book Author, Henry S. Villard - Book Author, Rick Mietkowski - Motion Control Camera, Chris Allies - Title Design, Paulo Del Bravo - Armorer
This movie is largely based on Ernest Hemingway's real experience in World War I as a young soldier in Italy. He was wounded and sent to military hospital where he was nursed by Agnes von Kurowsky. They fell in love but somehow the relationship didn't work out.
The film—apparently in a deliberate attempt to capture what the director called Hemingway's "emotional intensity" -- takes liberties with the facts. In real life, unlike the movie, the relationship was probably never consummated, and the couple did not meet again after Hemingway left Italy.[1]
Hemingway, deeply affected by his relationship with von Kurowsky, later wrote several books about this relationship, including A Farewell to Arms.
