Places in the Heart

In the middle of the depression, Edna (Sally Field) and her family seem to be one of the few lucky people in a small Texas town still living comfortably on a steady income, until her husband is accidentally killed by a drunk black man.  Suddenly, after years of only doing housework and raising kids, Edna must find a way to provide for her two small children and keep the bank from buying the house.  When a wandering black man, Moze (Danny Glover), who can do nothing but beg for work and food in the racist south, suggests that he help Edna turn her land into a cotton farm.  Seeing no other option that can keep her and the kids together, she becomes the face and Moze the know-how to running a cotton farm.  Along the way, Mr. Denby (Lane Smith) from the bank does, what he calls the Christian thing, and gives her his blind brother-in-law, Will (John Malkovich), as a paying tenant in her house.  Edna, Moze and Will become like family through hardships and tragedies to make the cotton farm a success.

One of the first obstacles that Edna and her gang face is a destructive tornado.  These scenes can be heart pounding and suspenseful for even the most seasoned storm chaser in tornado alley.  Between the daughter, Possum (Gennie James) playing alone in an upstairs room where a tree blows the wall in, and the son, Frank (Yankton Hatten), running from school across town with the tornado quickly approaching, we’re scared to think of the fate of Edna’s family.  Thankfully, both Will and Moze have formed an attachment to the kids enough to help ensure their safety, even by putting their own in danger.  The images of the aftermath of the storm are haunting and devastating, for me, they only echo the recent events in Alabama in Missouri.

Basically, the film is a sum of all my worst fears.  Becoming a widow with young kids and no work experience outside the home to make an income off of sounds like one of the worst predicaments I can imagine.  Of course, the time period set in the midst of the depression is just a double whammy.  And then the tornadoes seems like extra icing on the already decked out cake.

Even with all these fears helping me sympathize and identify with Edna and her lovable outcast gang, I didn’t find Places in the Heart to be anything of extra special significance.  I have no real complaints about the film, the acting was great all around and the story kept me intrigued from beginning to end.  Yet, there was just some spark of greatness that I’ve come to expect from most of these Best Picture nominees.  It’s always a little disappointing when just that one last element is missing.

“Peace of God.”

Bonnie and Clyde

Sometimes I look at the tale of Bonnie andClydein an odd way.  It was the depression and they were in the middle of the boring, flat mid-west.  They were young, crazy and faced with the choices of sit around and rot in the dust or run off, have fun and raise a little hell.  Their main problem was, they raised loads of hell.

When we first see Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway), she’s alone in her room, bored, naked and all she has to look forward to is her next waitress shift.  But outside her window, she sees a young man hanging around her mother’s car.  This is Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty).  They hang out around town for a while, just talking.  He says he’s done time for armed robbery.  That fascinates a bored girl.  Everything happens so casually, just as in conversation.  Before we realize what is happening,Clydehas robbed a store and the two are exchanging names as they steal a car.

You could say these two move pretty fast, but that only applies to their life of crime.  Though it’s easy for Bonnie to get stirred up and attempt a ravenous make-out session while Clyde is driving the getaway car,Clydemakes it clear that he “ain’t much of a loverboy”.  To Bonnie’s disappointment, she’s just run off and become an outlaw with someone who won’t have sex, which seems to be Bonnie’s main asset and outlet.

Soon the Barrow gang is expanding.  While Bonnie andClydeare driving through, they recruit a young man tending a gas station, C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard).  He seems like just another bored kid who decides on a whim that running from the law is more exciting than sitting around in the dust.  Later,Clydemeets up with his brother and sister-in-law, Buck (Gene Hackman) and Blanche (Estelle Parsons).  Buck knows all about his little brother’s growing list of run-ins with the law and tries to keep all that from his wife.  The whole gang decides they should just lay low for a while, but when they’re found out, Buck and Estelle shoot and run with the rest, permanently attaching themselves to the Barrow gang.

The gang finds themselves in some of the most screwball situations.  When a lone Texas Ranger tries to sneak up on the gang, parked in the woods for a break, he ends up with his arms tied and in a photo shoot.  Buck brings out his camera and takes a few priceless shots of Bonnie andClydeposing with the bound lawman.  Later, there’s a hilarious scene where the gang steal the car of a young man, Eugene (Gene Wilder).  He and his girlfriend Velma (Evans Evans) start chasing the gang in another car, but decide to turn back fearing they’re armed.  Soon, they’re riding around, with the Barrow gang, stopping for hamburgers and having a grand time.  Hanging around with the Barrow gang sounds like a real fun time, unless you’re an undertaker.

Bonnie soon sees that this life on the run is harder and less romantic than she thought.  She misses her family and refuses to let go of her old life, saying she wants to live near her mother again.  As the law moves closer, it’s clearer that those things aren’t going to happen.  It’s kind of sad really, but eventually Bonnie makes her own mark on the world and tells the story of her andClydein a way that makes sure they’re remembered forever.

To this day, the term Bonnie andClydehas a hint of romanticism in it.  We know they robbed banks and killed people along the way and by definition they are considered bad people.  But there are still ideas of rebellion, adventure and charm associated with the unforgettable duo.  Somehow, I think Bonnie andClydeappreciate us remembering them as just a couple crazy kids raising some hell in a time that needed a little excitement.

“All I can say is, they did right by me – and I’m bringin’ me and a mess of flowers to their funeral.”

Sounder

Sounder is the name of the Morgan family’s faithful hound dog.  They live as sharecroppers in Louisiana during The Depression.  Nathan (Paul Winfield) and Rebecca (Cicely Tyson) have three children and their oldest child David Lee (Kevin Hooks) is becoming more and more dependable with age.  After an unsuccessful night of coon hunting, there will once again be no meat on the table, but the next morning David Lee wakes up his siblings excitedly smelling meat cooking.  It isn’t until Nathan is arrested for the petty crime of stealing that we figure out where the meat came from.  He’s sent to a prison camp, but the family is not told where.  After some help from Mrs. Boatwright (Carmen Mathews), a white woman who pays Rebecca to do her laundry, they learn the camps location and send David Lee to find it, see if he can locate his father and find our when he is returning.

Throughout the film, David Lee’s love for school is shown.  Though his father needs his son’s help around their home, Nathan lets David Lee go to school and supports his son’s learning.  The walk to school is so long that David Lee attempts to hitchhike, but it’s not likely that a white man will pick up a little rural black boy in the 1930’s.  When he finally arrives at school, late, he sits in the back, next to the only other black child, and listens to the teacher read from Huckleberry Finn.

Later, during David Lee’s journey to the prison camp, he happens upon another school house.  Mrs Johnson is teaching a room of black children.  After she kindly helps him with a wound, she gladly lets David Lee join the class and lets him stay at her house.  There, she gives David Lee a few books about important African-Americans in history, including Harriet Tubman and Crispus Attucks, people he would probably never hear about in his school back home.  Before David Lee leaves, Mrs Johnson invites him to stay with her during the school year so she can continue to teach him.  Though David Lee wants and has potential for an education, he knows that his family needs him at home.

The film is based on William H. Armstrong’s short novel that won both the Newbery Medal and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award just two years before it was adapted to film.  The film centers on the family unit and David Lee’s journey, yet Oscar nominations went to Winfield and Tyson.  No doubt, they put on wonderful performances but it feels like Hooks’ David Lee gets the short end of the stick.  I’m not saying that kid deserved an Oscar, but he is the driving force of the story and the center of the family.

Sounder makes a great recommendation for family film night, though when dealing with a poor black family in the south there are some racial tensions.  It may raise a few questions with the youngsters, but with strong family values, good-hearted characters like Mrs. Boatwright and Mrs. Johnson and a warm fuzzy ending, you can feel good showing this one to your kids.  You just might get them to read the book too.

“A few knife holes ain’t gonna destroy the soul your momma put in this cake.”