Review: Heartland

Heartland (1979):

Synopsis – A glimpse of the life of a woman and her daughter who move to Wyoming to work for a cattle farmer in the 1910’s.

Starring - Conchata Ferrell, Rip Torn, a few others.

The final movie in my March Movie Project, I certainly saved one of the best for last. My mom has always loved the Little House on the Prairie book series. She read it several times through when she was a lass, and when she was raising my siblings and I, she read it to us too. I can remember both mom and dad regaling me with the tales of Laura Ingalls as I drifted off to sleep at bedtime. Because of my mom’s love for those books, she latched on to a few films that showed the life she had read so often about. One of them was this movie, Heartland. Out of the films she picked for me, she really wanted me to see this movie the most, and it was almost impossible to get a copy. Basically, through Amazon, we had to pay a high price for someone to print us a copy of the DVD. We got our copy just before the end of the month and watched it together. My mom loves this movie, I love my mom, and now I also love this movie. Here are some thoughts on it:

What I Liked:

-It’s a very simple movie and I really liked that. Naturally there are certain complications in the character’s lives, such as dealing with the low price of cattle and a having a baby in the dead of winter, but there are plot points made larger than the others that movie can be defined by. What we got was a slice of life from this time period, showing a woman and a man (and a child, but they child is almost inconsequential to the story) living life in a rural setting before things like electricity, telephones, or automobiles were common place. They struggle for what they want, and really everything they try to accomplish is a struggle because nothing in this movie comes without hard work. It was moving to watch, and a bit inspiring.

-Conchata Ferrell was very good in her role as a poor woman who finds herself and her child suddenly in the middle of nowhere working with a man who is difficult to communicate with. Rip Torn was something else entirely. I DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM. He absolutely transforms into his character, using an accent and changing his mannerism into a tough man who is used to a tough life, a man who won’t take no guff. It wasn’t until halfway through the movie when they showed a close-up of his face that I began to puzzle away at who I was looking at. “I know that guy” I thought. HIS NAME WAS IN THE OPENING CREDITS AND I STILL DID NOT PUT THIS TOGETHER. Really, an amazing performance.

What I Didn’t Like:

-There is an old woman, played by Lilia Skala, who shows up a few times in the movie and talks with Conchata about whatever. She has a thick accent and is almost impossible to understand most of the time. It wouldn’t be a problem if she was just someone who showed up and then left real quickly, but she has a lot of speaking scenes. And it even seems like she is speaking slower on purpose to make herself easier to understand, but it does not help in the least.

What I Hated:

-My mother didn’t remember this stuff, but there are some really brutal scenes of animal mutilation. I say mutilation, because that’s what it is to me, but what I mean is we see some cows branded and at least one that is castrated with a POCKET KNIFE. Maybe this is perfectly normal; I wouldn’t know, I’m a California boy. Oh yeah, and they kill a pig with a shot gun, and it is not fake in any way. Just a little too real for my taste.

Verdict:

I know I just listed a couple of negatives there, but I am still really happy I own this movie now. It will serve to me as a reminder of a time passed by and how lucky I am. It is also a very solid little film, and if you have a way to see it I think you should. I apologize if the animal bits are very upsetting for you. I intend to rewatch this movie many times.