Written by Tommy Lee Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald, and Wesley A. Oliver adapting Glendon Swarthout’s Novel
Starring Tommy Lee Jones (George Briggs) and Hilary Swank (Mary Bee Cuddy)
Cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto
Edited by Roberto Silvi
Released in 2014
Tommy Lee Jones’ second work has put me in a
weird place. I can list off the qualities that make The Homesman a unique exercise in the western genre, but I can’t
say that the film was satisfying and neither can I say why that is so. I walked
out with more of a “well that was interesting” shrug than any strong thoughts
or feelings positive or negative. Oh well, I’ll try to clarify what The Homesman does well and see if that
leads to any concrete conclusions.
Westerns have always been set in desolate locales. Even ones that take place in towns are separated from civilization or feature the creeping edge of civilization as a major theme. Often this isolation is kept to a general pall hanging over the film. Sometimes the hard-bitten landscapes will directly affect the characters that walk through them, like in The Searchers where the harshness of the surroundings shreds Ethan Edwards' psyche. Rarely have I seen vistas as barren, as lonely, as flat, and as boring as those in The Homesman. Swank’s Cuddy and Jones’ Briggs are required to deliver three insane women from Nebraska territory to Eastern Iowa. Once they set out, there are no changes in elevation and seeing a tree is like striking gold. Scene after scene consists solely of Cuddy and Briggs’ wagon slowly, agonizingly clunking along. It's constant creaking, a warning that it may fall apart at any second. Watching it all places the viewer in a blank state, like the hypnosis induced by driving through the Midwest times ten.
As indicated by the setup, the position of women in the hierarchy of the western territories is a main concern. Why the three women are/become unstable remains unclear. Most likely, it's a combination of spousal abuse and neglect and mental illness. This goes back to my earlier comments about the scenery. The film shows that frontier life was so stacked with hardship and so removed from normal human contact that going insane was a sane response. Even Cuddy, who has managed to eke out a small measure of stability, quickly starts to fracture due to loneliness and stress. Briggs has developed the perfect persona to survive on the prairie. Loopy when it is advantageous for him to appear weak, spitfire mean and coldhearted when he has to face down an adversary, and sympathetically weary when he needs to quickly get through a standard human interaction. All things considered, his irrationality seems entirely rational
The focus on women's hardships and the mind-breaking struggle of homesteader life, both ably communicated through the cinematography, should provide plenty to ponder. The main reason I'm less than positive on The Homesman is due to certain turns that take place in the latter half. I’ll refrain from getting too specific. I think the purpose is to wrinkle the direction the story had been going up to that point. Unfortunatly, the later developments are more confusing and muddling than complicating.
Westerns have always been set in desolate locales. Even ones that take place in towns are separated from civilization or feature the creeping edge of civilization as a major theme. Often this isolation is kept to a general pall hanging over the film. Sometimes the hard-bitten landscapes will directly affect the characters that walk through them, like in The Searchers where the harshness of the surroundings shreds Ethan Edwards' psyche. Rarely have I seen vistas as barren, as lonely, as flat, and as boring as those in The Homesman. Swank’s Cuddy and Jones’ Briggs are required to deliver three insane women from Nebraska territory to Eastern Iowa. Once they set out, there are no changes in elevation and seeing a tree is like striking gold. Scene after scene consists solely of Cuddy and Briggs’ wagon slowly, agonizingly clunking along. It's constant creaking, a warning that it may fall apart at any second. Watching it all places the viewer in a blank state, like the hypnosis induced by driving through the Midwest times ten.
As indicated by the setup, the position of women in the hierarchy of the western territories is a main concern. Why the three women are/become unstable remains unclear. Most likely, it's a combination of spousal abuse and neglect and mental illness. This goes back to my earlier comments about the scenery. The film shows that frontier life was so stacked with hardship and so removed from normal human contact that going insane was a sane response. Even Cuddy, who has managed to eke out a small measure of stability, quickly starts to fracture due to loneliness and stress. Briggs has developed the perfect persona to survive on the prairie. Loopy when it is advantageous for him to appear weak, spitfire mean and coldhearted when he has to face down an adversary, and sympathetically weary when he needs to quickly get through a standard human interaction. All things considered, his irrationality seems entirely rational
The focus on women's hardships and the mind-breaking struggle of homesteader life, both ably communicated through the cinematography, should provide plenty to ponder. The main reason I'm less than positive on The Homesman is due to certain turns that take place in the latter half. I’ll refrain from getting too specific. I think the purpose is to wrinkle the direction the story had been going up to that point. Unfortunatly, the later developments are more confusing and muddling than complicating.
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