It is a common complaint by people who love a book that a filmed version of it does not do it justice. The film makers (unless they are Peter Jackson producing Hobbity nonsense) are always faced with a dilemma of deciding what parts of the book to leave out in order to keep the film at a reasonable length.
Now, I have not read Glendon Swarthout’s source novel in this case, but I can’t help feeling that the book may offer more than this curious, and ultimately frustrating movie. Directed by Tommy Lee Jones, it stars Hilary Swank as a single woman (Mary Bee Cuddy) running a farm in Nebraska in the 1850s. After one particularly harsh winter, three women in the town have been driven insane. Mary volunteers to transport them to a church in Iowa that specialises in looking after people in their condition. She enlists the reluctant but indebted George Briggs (Jones) to help in her task after saving him from a lynching.
It seemed a little far fetched that three women from such a small community would all go mad at the same time, or that a woman, however resourceful, would, at that time take on that job. It takes an age for the trip to start and once it does, Jones struggles to bring home the hardships of the journey. The relationship between Mary and George is initially sparky and enjoyable, but then the characters start behaving in ways that don’t seem true to themselves based on what we have seen before. I’m sure that given more time, most of those problems could be rectified, and the book could well do that.
Having spoken about the shortcomings of the film, it should be said that there are also things to enjoy. Jones doesn’t exactly stretch himself but he is perfect for the role, and Swank is similarly impressive. They dominate the film to an extent that is a pity that two such promising actresses as Grace Gummer (as one of the insane women) and Hailee Steinfeld have so little to do. The dialogue in the script, partly written by Jones, has an air of authenticity and the cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto is excellent – though he probably couldn’t go far wrong with the landscapes he had to work with!
Rating: 6 out of 10