During 1854 in the Nebraska frontier, independent
and pious
single woman Mary Bee Caddy (Hilary Swank) is given the task to pick up three
crazy women driven mad by frontier life to a church in Iowa (where a kind
minister’s wife (Meryl Streep in a very small role). She rescues low-life
drifter/ army deserter
George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones) from the noose and he agrees to help her with
the thankless and tough task ahead. Mary
and Briggs must brave the weather and even Indians during their journey where
the three crazy women can’t even communicate (and one thinks she is God).
THE HOMESMAN is an unusual Western tale
from director Tommy
Lee Jones as he shows the little known sorrows that are rarely shown in movies
of the hardships women faced out in the Western frontier in the 19th
century. Some women couldn’t take the
hard life and went crazy for one reason or another. Some of the men in
Mary’s town refuse to do
the thankless job of charity of transporting these women in a caged wagon with
a bolt on the back door. Hilary Swank is
great as the hard and lonely spinster who sees marriage too much as a business
proposition as the clock is ticking for her while Tommy Lee Jones steals the
show as aimless drifter Briggs. James
Spader has a small part in addition to Hallie Stansfield. The minimalist approach
to the look helps
build this harsh world that many lived through when they went out West to find
a new life. Even though there are about
three Western-like scenes you would find in your typical Western, THE HOMESMAN
is a tale of harsh life and insanity that would fit in any time period.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
ORIGINS- cast and crew talk about how the project
came together
and how they prepared for it while Tommy lee Jones remarks how the actors did
in their roles.
SHOOTING THE FILM- a
behind-the-scenes look at filming the movie in New Mexico
(doubling for Arizona) and
Georgia as you learn how they made the film including building a hotel in harsh
weather and then burning it down.
BEYODN THE WESTERN- cast and crew talk
about whether this
movie is a Western or not in addition to talking about 19th Century
life.
Previews for other Lionsgate releases including
THE DYING
LIGHT are on the disc, but the trailer for THE HOMESMAN isn’t among the extras
or previews.
FINAL ANALYSIS:
THE
HOMESMAN is a great non-traditional Western which paints a bleak and tough look
at frontier life and the effects it has on women.
This review is ©2-18-2014
David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments
to feedback@enterline-media.com
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