Reviews

The summary may seem like a dichotomy but this movie is so achingly beautiful it is the only way I can describe it so few words. I have only seen this movie once about 20 years ago in its entirety and it's still imprinted on my memory. Each character in this movie is lovingly depicted and so 3-dimensional, even the children (they are such exquisite performances by the children too). You would hardly recognize Jane Fonda not necessarily because of her looks but because her demeanor and accent is so spot on. She really shows just how great of an actress she can be in this role because she couldn't get any further from her privileged background, Hanoi-Jane, wife of Ted Turner real life than this role and yet there isn't even one second of her portrayal that I doubted. She completely inhabited Gertie down to the fabric of her soul. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who gets the chance to see it. It's hard to believe this was a made-for-TV movie because it so easily could've been made for the big screen. There are very few movies that I've seen that have left the last impression that this one did. To this day, I recall a vast majority of the movie vividly and it's not just the plot points that have stuck with me, it's also the way it made me feel when I saw it. You feel every poignant moment with these characters and you won't soon forget it. As an aside, this movie was my first real exposure to Appalachian music and I've had a fondness for it since. It's a wonderful soundtrack and I've often wished it was available for sale because it is truly beautiful.

I have lived in Madison, WI the majority of my life and my father was a University policeman during the latter part of the anti-war protests. Who knows, maybe he was even pictured in the film - it's difficult to tell as the police are most often shown in their riot gear. Over the years he has related some of his experiences during that time. He attended the UW during the early 60's and wasn't much older than the students involved in what he described as chaotic and sometimes scary encounters. As a result of this, I have always been very interested in the anti-war movement nationally and especially on the UW campus. This film gives me a detailed perspective of the city I lived in during my childhood and shows me how much the Madison of today has been influenced by those events. On a broader level the film demonstrates how Madison was a microcosm (albeit a somewhat extreme example for it's relatively small size) of the national political climate. It all at once makes me wish I had been there but also thankful that I wasn't which I think may be indicative of the schizophrenic nature of our country at that time. It's a retrospective worth watching not just for its point of view but also as a historical document. It's a thoroughly informative film which has relevance today both because of the long shadows these events have cast ever since but also given the political issues being raised today over the war in Iraq. Sit back, watch, enjoy and surprise yourself by finding out what you never knew about a seemingly well-documented and recent period of our history.