ABSTRACT
The pressure cooker effect can speed up the process of people bonding and falling in love. The more intensity, danger, stress, and fear, the more likely it is that two people thrown together, or trapped in a dangerous situation, will make a human connection. In the terrific war thriller Enemy at the Gates, Jude Law plays real-life Russian sharpshooter Vassili Zaitsev who, during the siege of Stalingrad, expertly picks off German officers, but not enlisted men. In Bel Canto, one of the Ann Patchett's novels, a disparate group of people are held hostage by guerillas in the home of the Vice President of a South American country. In this unexpected imprisonment, a Japanese businessman can fall in love with the world famous American opera singer he has long revered. Their romantic relationship blossoms and deepens even though they do not speak a word of each other's language.
