Great acting/actors, shows with honest reality the results of choices people make, not sugar coated. Not a happily ever after movie, but does have enough turn-out-right results to keep it from being a depressing movie. It was moving, and thought provoking. It was an honest look at lives, but also was very real entertainment. Was presented as 4 hours straight, but held us right to our chairs. Very well done, highest rating.
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None-Ya12 November 2004I saw this movie and I have to say that it was a wonderful look at life in the 1860's. I have seen very many movies that deal with the life and times of people from that time period and I have to say that this movie makes you really feel what the characters are going through. It was a very touching movie. It even caught my husbands attention and he enjoyed it almost as much as I did.
This is one of those movies that are sure to touch anyones heart. You should be ready with a box of tissue as it can get pretty emotional at times. This is one movie that does not shirk away from showing life the way it really is not the typical Hollywood type of look. -
ttaskmaster18 February 2010For the third time now, Peter Strauss made me cry!!!!!! I'm sure my reputation as a rough, tough Biker, martial artist and former British Army rifleman will suffer if ever my friends read this... But this film is worth it!! As a man entering the stage of life (I'm 31, by the way) where 'settling down' is becoming more likely and I think ever more on how much I have left to save for my beloved's engagement ring, this film does seem particularly pertinent.
Some have remarked at how trite the whole deathbed reconciliation thing is and how stubbornly selfish the characters are... This is true, but only because there really are people like that in real life. I know a fair few, myself.
That's probably why I identified with the characters so closely. What makes this such a compelling story is that the characters are not 'dramatised' by 'actors' as you'd expect actors to do these days - They are portrayed almost as if this were a documentary. The acting is *that* realistic.
But yes, as another reviewer mentioned, keep a box of tissues handy.
I'm off to do something manly like choppin' some wood... Enjoy!!! -
cuckookazoo16 June 2005Grabbed this one from the public library, sure I would enjoy it as I have other Kevin Sullivan films. For the first hour I did. Not as sweet or wholesome as his other films - I expected it wouldn't be. What I didn't expect was how prideful, unforgiving and selfish half the cast of characters would be, right up until they died. Deathbed reconciliations make for cloying dialog. The characters are quite likable when first introduced, but then become annoyingly shallow. The actors did superb jobs, given the awful material. This and beautiful cinematography up the score - but fail to save the film from its thin and contrived plot.