Memorable, crazy movie

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Blistering performances.

This film was allegedly a critical success but in reality it's a plodding, overwrought film that never really gets going.The characters are shallow and the alleged protagonist is a "Mary Sue". While I was led to believe that the film would be a wonderful account of people and complexities of relationships all I saw was bad writing and worse acting.While the written version and Biblical allegories of forgiveness and healing may work, this theatrical version misses the mark. I suppose if you have a pariah complex you can relate to this movie but for everyone else it's a waste of time.

This is the kind of totally misogynistic movie that does such an excellent job of masquerading as a movie about female empowerment that it fools all but the most discerning types.There would be nothing wrong with that, except that it lulls us all into a false state of comfort. Police will always be kind, gentle folk, escaped convicts will always be 'really good' at heart, and a woman can be rescued from the worst types of spiritual and emotional pain by the 'power of the penis'. If only, right?Wrong. The world is not like that. In this world we all live in, police rape young homeless woman wandering around on their own as often as they help them out. Women who have been convicted of felonies rarely get second chances, regardless of how generous or good-hearted they happen to be. People are shaped by their circumstances and rarely manage to "rise above" them, instead dragging everyone else down with them often as not. There are no second chances.Nor should there be. Women who murder ought not to be let off the hook from the ramifications of their actions for "good behavior." Policemen ought not do the job of the non-government organizations and social programs which do not exist in the South for all intents and purposes.We ought not be able to work or charm our way out of being who we are.Everyone deserves the opportunity to start again, but part of that process MUST involve some acknowledgment of why things went so badly wrong in the first place. Teaching young girls that all they have to do to improve their lives is to trust the people around them unconditionally to help them out of any scrape they get into is morally bankrupt. Movies like this one do a terrible job of preparing young girls for the world they will actually be entering upon adulthood.It does a terrible job of describing the world they exist in now.We need to learn how to be less sweet and giving, rather than more so.Women are taught to be caring at the cost of everything we love about our lives and ourselves. Because we are so open-hearted, we are easily taken advantage of in our naivete. We need movie heroines who encourage us to be MORE wary, more suspicious of who we place our trust in, rather than less. We need heroines willing to stand on their own two feet and to work to accomplish their own dreams, rather than to fight for the dreams of those around them without a thought for themselves.In real life, this kind of goodness is boring...it is scrappiness, it is the willingness to stand one's ground and to fight for one's right to exist at all costs, that makes a life entertaining to watch and live.Instead, what this movie does is make us resent the people around us for achieving less than the perfection that the main characters of this movie achieve. We also hate ourselves for being less than wholly sweet.No man will ever solve all a woman's problems for her. No woman can work her way into redemption by serving the people around her rather than serving herself. There is no opportunity for healing without pride.No one can work themselves out of a pit of despair without honesty.May I live to see the day when movies all represent heroines of reality, rather than of male fantasies of what a 'real woman' should be.

Whatever became of Alison Elliott, the heroine of this film? She gave an extremely believable performance here as a woman released from prison for killing the stepfather who had impregnated her and then had caused the death of the baby by beating the mother.Ellen Burstyn is the old lady who Elliott goes to work for. As always, Burstyn again proves that she is at her best when she does her mean, crotchety acting. It's another fine job.The story will tug at your heart since it's a tragic one. It again proves that you can't always judge people by what has happened in their lives. This misconception brings on the tragedy at the end that will drive you to tears.Note an interesting performance by Marcia Gay Harden, as a blond, worker of the Burstyn character who befriends Elliott.This is a very good study of rural life and human relationships.

This movie got pretty bad reviews from the Hollywood Hype-mongers. I suppose because it didn't have a lot of flash. All it had was a well-written original story and superb acting with real characters. Anyone who has ever spent time in a small town can identify with nearly all the characters. I could practically name them all in the town I grew up in. I'm sure the only people who would NOT enjoy this movie are the ones who grew up in Hollywood and believe everyone is like them. If thats not you, rent this movie for a truly enjoyable evening. But you might want to bring tissues. It's a very warm and often funny movie, but it's also very sad in some places. Will Patton is incredible and I honestly don't understand why Alison Elliott hasn't been used more than she has since this movie. Ellen Burstyn was glorious as ever :)