This weekend I got a chance to watch the movie Freeheld, which stars Julianne Moore and Ellen Page. The movie is coming out on dvd this Tuesday and I thought that I would share my thoughts on this touching film.

Freeheld is based on the true story of New Jersey police officer Laurel Hester and her registered domestic partner, Stacie Andree, who find themselves having to fight for Stacie to receive Laurel’s pension after her death. Now the reason this fight is so important is that Laurel has been diagnosed with stage four cancer and her rate of survival is incredibly low. In the film Laurel’s cancer progresses tremendously rapidly and the concern is that she won’t live long enough to see the results of their work.

The movie is very emotional, while there are humorous moments and cute scenes between Laurel and Stacie, the overall film is just very sad. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for the actual people who went through this because by the end of it I was completely red eyed and had gone through at least half a box of tissues. The entire situation was just so dire and all they wanted was for the councilmen of their city to let Stacie gain access to money that based on domestic partnership rights they could grant her. Moore and Page were both exceptional in their roles. The two of them seemed to have a wonderfully close connection and it was just great seeing them act together.

Now Steve Carell was also in this movie and he provided some much needed comic relief. He portrayed the leader and founder of Garden State Equality, Steven Goldstein. Carell makes his character fun and enjoyable to watch, while also presenting how truly dedicated Goldstein was to the issue at hand. The movie was touching and while sad, there were moments that were truly wonderful to see.

Want to share your thoughts on Freeheld? You can comment below or tweet at us, @thenerdygirlexp. You can also tweet at me, @kleffnotes, and find me on my blog, kleffnotes.wordpress.com, and on my kleffnotes YouTube channel.