Safe Haven: Asking for Forgiveness

            In the movie Safe Haven, forgiveness is a big part of the theme that goes on in the movie. In the movie Safe Haven, a girl by the name Erin Tierney is involved in a skirmish with her current husband at the time, Kevin Tierney, who happens to be a cop. After the skirmish with her current husband she decides to run away from him and all her problems. When Erin does this she gets to a small town called Southport, South Carolina. When she gets there, she misses the bus as it leaves, but seems to do so on purpose. She has found the place to stay so she can be safe.

            The next day Erin goes to find a job, only telling the workers at her new job that her name is Katie. Once she is established in her new job she meets a guy named Alex. Alex is a single father, whose wife passed away from cancer. Alex is ready to move on and start anew.  Erin/Katie is attracted to the man, as he is to her, but they don’t tell each other that. As time goes on they start to grow on each other and Alex finds any way possible to be with Erin/Katie. As all this is going on, Erin/Katie’s husband is trying to find any way possible to find her and get her back.

            As time has went on, Alex and Erin/Katie have shared many moments with each other and start to fall in love. As they are falling in love and everything is seeming to go as planned, Erin/Katie’s husband has sent out a fake wanted poster for her saying she has committed a murder. No one at first notices that she is the person on the wanted picture. One day when Alex is at the police station, he glances over to the bulletin board to see Erin/Katie’s face on the wanted poster. He is absolutely heartbroken because she has lied to him about everything.

            When Erin/Katie is closing for work Alex shows up with the poster questioning her true identity and if everything she has said is true. He gets mad at her and tells her to leave. Saying he never wants to see her again. Erin/Katie is heartbroken because she really love Alex. As she is packing up, prepared to leave, Alex begins to realize that he has made a huge mistake and must go to find Erin/Katie. She is getting ready to get on a ferry when Alex finds her and stops her from leaving. Alex is forgiving himself for yelling at her because he is in love with her. He even tells her, “Katie I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. I can promise you that you will be safe here with me and nothing will hurt you. This is the safest place on earth for you and I will let nothing happen to you.” They leave the ferry and go to his house. In the end, Erin/Katie’s crazy husband tries to come back and get her. He tries to kill her but she ultimately kills him by shooting him. So she stays in Southport with Alex and they stay in love.

            Forgiveness was used in this movie when Alex tells Erin/Katie to leave but then realizes he made a mistake. He must try to get forgiveness from her so that he can get her to stay with him so they are both happy. When Alex tells Erin/Katie he is sorry she says it is okay and that she is just scared of what will happen to her. She forgives him because she has fallen in love with him so it is easy for her to do. So Alex asking for forgiveness was the main point of this story because if he wouldn’t have done so, then Erin/Katie could have left and then Alex would have regretted it for life. He would have held that against him and it would have been hard for him to move on and start anew. Forgiveness is very powerful, and this movie shows it in a very understanding way.