elision10

The movie isn't particularly bad -- I didn't feel the urge to shut it off. Rip Torn is reasonably good. But I found Conchata Ferrell completely unconvincing. Her entire persona says anything but the fish-out-of-water woman out in Wyoming at the beginning of the 20th century. The plot is mostly predictable and pretty much filled with the components you would expect from such an effort. The whole business, except for Torn, seems like a Made for TV effort. With a 100% RT rating, the critics obviously don't agree but I just don't see much of quality or interest. It's OK if you have nothing better.

I know this is supposed to be a sweet, heart-warming film. But the children treat the servants so viciously and with lack of respect that it's more like a primer for upper class youth on how to treat the lower orders. They're consistently treated with disdain. It's rather shocking that the movie takes this point of view. The child actors aren't too bad, but one of the boys, the young master of the house, is second-rate and not believable. The movie is watchable, and even enjoyable, during the first half. But the second half is rather sappy. I imagine the book is much better, although IMDBers seem to rather like this film.

I got through about half an hour. I know we're supposed to get all reverential about a Holocaust movie. And perhaps it's because the film apparently has some religious auspices that others may find inspiring and I do not. But to me none of the characters held much interest. There's a lot of talk about God, but somehow there seems to be a lack of seriousness about the whole business, as if people's lives are not much at stake. The German soldiers are presented in the usual manner, ie, they may maintain great interest in, say, the beauty of watchmaking to show their possible humanity; but eventually they'll start blubbering about race theory. There are some great and affecting movies about the Holocaust out there; this isn't one of them.