MikeyAB
Such a disappointent. Film makers cannot make good westerns anymore and this is a lazy, illogical, depressing, low budget effort, and in an attempt to make itself realistic succeeds in being almost totally unrealistic. Even the horrible Bone Tomahawk was better and that DVD was literally thrown out of my house. Don't bother.There is a much better detailed and accurate review of this rubbish elsewhere.
lcpierce2011-969-896169
In the tradition of the Old Western type and there is the up to date type like this great movie. Hillary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones captures a lot of the suffering that folks endured back in those days. The Prairie wasn't for a weak woman or man. You worked hard, built you a homestead, raised some stock. There were times when the weak just couldn't make and it drove them crazy. Especially with the rough abuse men would give their women. Disease and drought would get the best of them. If not that then someone wanting to take your property. It was dog eat dog type lifestyle. Every man a woman had to do their share or fail. These two actors did the script very good along with the help of the three ladies that had the job of playing crazy. A little nudity and some cursing, but it was in good taste to show real life drama and I understand that point. A lot of folks won't, but it was a fine movie.
Tehmeh
"The Homesman" is a drama that surprised me. It's a western too and quite loyal to some of its roots, but it's not a drama that just happens to be a western. Because it is a western, it finds ways to emphasize the story in a way that makes it so much stronger than it would be otherwise.How should I describe this one? It's a story about hardship and broken people. Almost every character that has any focus, is somehow broken. Some are visibly broken beyond the capacity to function, and this is indeed the main storyline: Mary Bee Cuddy is determined to help three broken, mentally ill women to get to a church far away, where they would receive better care. Some of these women are reluctant to go, some of them want to go, but none of them speak and all of them seem beyond help. Mary Bee Cuddy gets a lowlife who calls himself George Briggs to help her transport these women. The journey is long, dangerous and ultimately tells us more about these characters than any destination ever would.Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) drives this movie forward. She is a good, hard-working, God-fearing and strong-willed woman. Not a ball-busting superficial Mary Sue, or a portrayal of what an "independent woman" means to many modern mainstream feminists, but a real character with depth, needs and weaknesses of her own. This seems to have upset people who only want female characters to validate their checklist politics and/or bitterness, but everyone else can see a layered, driven and a very central character. About Mary Bee Cuddy's character, I do like how simple the symbolism is around her. She has managed to survive by herself in a very hostile and unforgiving world. She prays, she tries her best and she wants to help people. But can she help herself? The irony of the story is this: Mary Bee Cuddy wants to care for these broken people and get them all to a safe place far away, while she needs that destination and care just as much. She's not visibly broken and she can certainly function, but in her own way she is a desperate person. Desperate for love, desperate for anything to validate her struggles, to make them mean something. Most of us can relate to this. In this movie, you will find how people break in different ways. Some people are ill and their minds are broken, some can't get over a personal tragedy, some people are broken by cruelty and constant hardships, some people are broken by their inability to accept the "holes" in their hearts or what they don't have. Some people are broken by their false sense of independence and strength that doesn't allow them to love or care for others. This movie is both nihilistic and hopeful, even though the darkness threatens to swallow the little glimmer of hope left. There is a contrast. We are shown plenty of cruel things and hopeless despair, but I felt it also had a wonderfully naive heart to it, somewhere under the dark layers. This movie demonstrates how we can make a difference when we carry someone else's burdens for them or even with them, although we can't force anyone to do the same for us. If there is a message in this movie, I think it's this: we can never know how far the ripples of our lives and good deeds go, and sometimes - whether we know it or not - we can inspire people, no matter how fruitless and desperate our efforts can seem to us. We see this effect in at least one of the characters."The Homesman" can seem like a movie without a point, a movie where the journey means more than the destination, but there is a point to it. At times it's subtle and other times it hammers things to your head, but it's still tonally intact and everything works in favor of the story. It doesn't end with a bang, and although I would've liked a stronger, more simple ending, it's still quite fitting in its own way.Hilary Swank is absolutely great in this, and she is the beating heart of the story. Tommy Lee Jones is great too, both in very different ways. The three crazy ladies are played by Miranda Otto, Grace Gummer and Sonja Richter. They are all good, and although their craziness can be seen as "movie craziness" instead of something absolutely real and subtle, their performances work nonetheless. Supporting cast is very good as well, featuring good performances from William Fichtner, Caroline Lagerfelt and more.This film is well shot, although you won't get many majestic scenery shots or anything else that's visually outstanding in itself. In fact, you don't even notice the camera most of the time. I like this approach in a character-driven story. Marco Beltrami composed a good score. At first it seems a little out of place (I'd blame the editing department for this), but it finds its place soon enough. It's nothing too grand, which again is fitting.Tommy Lee Jones directed and co-wrote this little gem. Thumbs up for the other writers too, and I might just check out the novel this movie is based on. "The Homesman" hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn't feel it at first, but it just refused to go away. Its narrative isn't as tight or obvious as in most crowd-pleasing movies, and it's certainly not an exciting action movie (like westerns often tend to be), but it cuts deep if you allow it. It's not a bad cut, even though it may feel bad at first. When it scars, you feel better about it.Recommended for lovers of character-driven drama, even those who don't normally like westerns. But most of all, recommended for broken hearts and minds.
