Okay, synopsis:
Set in 1935 Waxahachie, Texas, PLACES IN THE HEART tells a story -- not unlike the familiar story told by the film "It's A Wonderful Life" -- of the delicate balance one life can exert upon so many others. When Sheriff Royce Spalding is accidentally killed by a drunken gunman, his wife, Edna, is suddenly thrust into the role of provider for her two small children, Frank and Possum. Then "Mose," an out-of-work black man begging for every meal in the racist South of the Depression era, happens along with a scheme to plant cotton on her forty acres. It is the only chance Edna has to keep her family together. Meanwhile, Mr. Denby, of the bank which owns the mortgage on the farm, is quick to extend a "hand of charity" to Mrs. Spalding by depositing his blind brother-in-law (Mr. Will) with her for safekeeping. Margaret, Edna's sister and a local "beauty operator," is unable to provide much help; her beauty shop is all that stands between herself, her philandering husband, and a small daughter on one side and poverty on the other. A tornado offers their first challenge. Emerging from the storm cellar, blind Mr. Will asks "How bad is it?" "Well," Mose responds, "everything's a little bent, but it's still here." Next, the bottom falls out of the cotton market and Edna's only chance to make the mortgage payment is that she be first to bring her crop to the cotton mill and claim the $100 first prize for doing so. In her way is the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan which objects to Mose's efforts to best a white man to the prize money. In spite of the church setting of the final scene of the film, it seems karmic in its implications. Written by Mark Fleetwood <mfleetwo@mail.coin.missouri.edu>
Now, with that out of the way...
I have no snarky comments whatsoever about this movie. No attempt whatsoever at being funny. Granted, I'm not even funny when I try, but this movie deserves no attempt at humor.
I really enjoyed it. The acting, from the entire cast, is superb. Even the child actors were great.
Malkovich, being the reason I chose this movie, of course stood out to me. I thought he did a wonderful job of playing a blind man and I forgot that I was even watching "MALKOVICH" - I believed him, I believed he was this blind guy. I cared about his character, and the others.
With that said...movies set in this general time period evoke some strange, almost visceral response from me. I can't quite articulate it, but films, books, et cetera that are set in rural Southern towns from this time period, or even as far back as slavery times...I almost feel a sense of unexplainable disgust. Just....the way the people dress, behave, speak, the music they listen to, the rural setting itself...like I said, I can't explain it, but I physically recoil. Maybe I lived in this time during a past life lol. It makes no sense to me, but I get cold chills watching anything set around these decades.
It is weird how certain eras when one was not even alive, can provoke such strong reactions. I gravitate toward anything to do with WWII. I love anything to do with that era. I am that way to some extent about the 60s. I enjoy history generally speaking, but the deep South, slavery times and into the Depression era, I find profoundly disturbing for no reason in particular.
I live in North Carolina, and a little over a year ago, I toured an old plantation home and the grounds with my child. I felt that way there. We viewed the slaves quarters, the farm land, and the actual plantation home, and I felt unsettled the entire time. Weird!
Anyway - Places in the Heart is a lovely film. It has very sad moments, and a shocking beginning. It shocked me, at least. I'm surprised that the movie has been out as long as I've been alive yet I am just now seeing it, at 28 years of age. I'm very pleased that I got to see it :)
No comments:
Post a Comment