That review,....

jthemanjj says > Only thing I can take from it was that both patriarchs pretty much lost everything that should have been most important to them (children/relationships) over a petty feud about land and refusal to compromise.

That is pretty much the gist of the movie but it's also so much more than that. I think the movie shows us how easily minor problems can evolve to all out war. The underlying issues are often hidden so people may not even know what they're angry and fighting about. They just keep it going because they're reacting emotionally rather than logically.

They never stop to think about the outcome; where all the things they're doing are leading them. They don't seem to see their part of the problem and won't take any responsibility for having started it or for being able to stop it.

I had seen an extended preview of the movie on TCM a few months ago. It was one of those 'the making of...' films rather than a trailer. I thought it was horrible and knew it wasn't a movie I'd ever be interested in seeing. Fortunately, I forgot all about that and recorded it to DVR. By the time I realized this was the same movie I was already enjoying it so I kept watching.

What I loved about the movie is that it made me feel; not good feelings but I felt sadness, frustration, anger, sympathy, empathy, etc. The actors, especially Rod Steiger and Robert Ryan, were amazing. I could feel their agony and though I felt the characters were behaving badly, the actors made me feel their pain and see things from their point of view. They were not necessarily bad people with evil intentions even though that's exactly where their attitudes, mindset, and actions ultimately led them.

Laben Feather's heartbreak over the loss of his daughter-in-law started a chain of events that destroyed more lives. This is what sometimes happens to some people. They let a negative incident in their lives engulf their entire lives. They wallow in their misery and systematically drag everyone around them down as well.

When people die or we experience any loss, we have to remember and focus on the good. Laben's anger caused him to immediately kill all the horses but Lyda Jo seemed to love riding and his son, Thrush, had loved and nurtured those horses. He began hating his son; relationships fell apart. Even the loss of the meadow to the Gutshalls probably stemmed from the same loss.

Sometimes in grief, people feel they have the right to strike out against other people but they don't always care if the person against whom they're directing their anger and scorn are really the ones responsible. It creates a whole cycle of revenge and a downward spiral.

I've never read the book so I don't know how it ends but the way the movie ends, I feel, is perfect. Wrapping things up in a neat, tidy bow would not have worked because there is no real resolution. The pain continues for all the survivors. Nothing is ever going to be the same and they don't just move on as if nothing had ever happened. They just go on.

Zack talked about the land being important to him so if he ends up staying there, along with Roonie, he may fall into the same trap his father fell into. It does not appear Zack ever understood that Lyda Jo's accidental death was what drove his father. He believed it was about the land and may have fought as hard to protect the land he thought was so important. The animosity toward the remaining Gutshalls would, of course remain and vice versa.

The movie ends in a way that lets us imagine what happens next. It's a good way for us to learn about ourselves. What would we do at that point. How do we think things progress from where they are...


Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

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