'A Journal for Jordan' Is A Sweet Love Story And A Reflection on Good Parenting
(REVIEW) How can you be a good father even after your death? How can you be a good mother while you’re grieving the loss of the man you love?
These are the questions wrestled with by the romantic leads of “A Journal for Jordan,” a new movie directed by Denzel Washington. It stars Michael B. Jordan and Chanté Adams as opposites-attract pair First Sgt. Charles Monroe King and Dana Canedy, who work to be together and be the best possible parents for their son, Jordan, in their own ways.
The movie is a well-meaning, sweet love story that emphasizes the role of family and what it means to be a good parent.
King dies in a bomb explosion while on active duty in Baghdad. His death comes not long after the birth of his son.
The movie, in a series of time-jumps, shows the blossoming of Charles and Dana’s friendship and romance, as well as how Dana deals with her grief and being a good mother to Jordan in the years after Charles’ death.
King is a polite, pious man. He prays before every meal, treats Dana with chivalrous respect and wears a pair of simple sneakers with every outfit. His opposite, Dana is a vibrant and confident New York Times reporter. They decide to have a baby together on the day Charles proposes. When he comes home to visit his newborn son, the two decide they’ll get married the next time he visits. But his death comes before they can take that step.
In the meantime, during his active duty, he began writing a “journal for Jordan,” filling it with advice for his son in case he wouldn’t be there. Eventually, Jordan becomes old enough to read the journal for himself, and it becomes a life-changing force in his life to remind him how important family is.
The story is based on true events and the New York Times article and book Canedy wrote about her loss. She has said that the journal is filled with writing on “faith and failure, heartache and hope.”
“Never be ashamed to cry,” parts of the journal read. “No man is too good to get on his knee and humble himself to God. Follow your heart and look for the strength of a woman.”
The journal explains the importance of prayer, offers advice and encouragement for the future, answers simple and personal questions and more in over 200 pages.
Canedy wrote about the process of making the movie and how it was emotionally grueling at times to relive her life’s greatest loss.
“Helping to develop the script brought flashbacks of the glorious two-week vacation when Charles came home to meet our baby boy,” she wrote in the article. “But I also remember the time I sobbed when Jordan covered his eyes at 18 months old and said, ‘Peekaboo, Daddy.’ And I recall him clomping around the living room as a boy in his dad’s shoes.
“‘One day,’ I would say to him. ‘They will fit one day.’”
She worries the movie will have a negative impact on Jordan, but for now, he enjoys the respect paid to his family. He’s also, Canedy said, literally grown into his father’s shoes.
The movie is a faithful adaptation of King’s life and legacy as well as a genuine recreation of his steadfast love with Canedy. At times, it falls back on unremarkable dialogue and overused plot devices, but the movie is devoted to its characters and real-life inspiration.
The best thing “A Journal for Jordan'' does is allow Canedy’s character to explore motherhood in full. There are moments of joy, moments of difficulty and surprise, moments of hopelessness. Canedy is unquestionably a good mother through her grief, but her grief is still an overwhelming thing.
The movie takes care to show what it looks like to grieve and heal, most notably in the form of Canedy’s group of friends who support her in being a single mother and rediscovering who she is.
In the movie, Jordan receives the journal when he comes home after school upset by classmates calling him racial slurs. It sparks instant encouragement and a desire in Jordan to grow closer to his father’s memory, which reunites dear family and friends in the process.
The journal is no replacement for his father, but it is a powerful link to a kind man and a reminder of just how important it is to keep your family close.
Jillian Cheney is a contributing culture writer for Religion Unplugged. She also writes on American Protestantism and evangelical Christianity and was Religion Unplugged’s 2020-21 Poynter-Koch fellow. You can find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.