OHMS
US, 1980, 100 minutes, Colour.
Ralph Waite, David Birney, Talia Balsam, Cameron Mitchell, Leslie Nielsen.
Directed by Dick Lowry.
OHMS is an ecological telemovie, made at the beginning of the '80s before the movement gained great strength. It would have had a much more receptive audience in the late '80s and early '90s. It concerns the building of a power line through farmlands in a state like Ohio. There is double-dealing by the electricity company, collusion by the governor. There is strong opposition from the farmers and a schoolteacher who lends support.
Ralph Waite gives a solid performance as the head of the family, the farmer who takes on the system. Cameron Mitchell has a good role as a family lawyer friend. David Birney is the schoolteacher-adviser and Leslie Nielsen the governor.
1. Entertaining telemovie? Environmental message? The effect on the wide television audience?
2. The state of Ohio, the American countryside, the farms, the forests? Authentic atmosphere?
3 The title, the electricity company, the electric lines, ohms as the unit of resistance? Ohms becoming a symbol of the farmers?
4. The agricultural situation, the electricity company, government and laws, the land, the variety of roots? The surveyors and their arrival, the surveying and their keeping it quiet?
5. The introduction to the family: Floyd as the father, his relationship with his wife and children? The daughter at school? The son helping on the farm? The younger child? Details of their ordinary life? Their concerns for making a living?
6. Arch, the family friend, the lawyer, his warnings? Arch and the manager of the electricity company? The law, the understanding of the case, pleading it in court, the calling of precedents, the judge rejecting these?
7. Coca, his teaching, electricity and his explanation of Ohms? A subversive teacher? Trying to make his students think? His work with Floyd's daughter? Ideas, the campaign? Going to see Floyd? Going to the meeting, asking questions of the company? Devising tactics? His being sacked? Working with the farmers, participating in their plans? On the sidelines but wanting Floyd to act as leader?
8. The electricity company, the surveyors, the executive and the meeting, the answers? Double-dealing? Work behind the scenes, the law, the governor? Bringing the governor down and the questions?
9. The Vietnam War and the references, the parallels with this battle, doing what is right, ending the war? The discussions at the family table? At meals out? The son and his attitude towards the war?
10. Joe as the family friend, his help, skills, at the meetings, the details of the plan to transfer the pylons? Floyd with the model in his farm? The visit of the police?
11. The daughter, going with the teacher, the hotel, her nervousness, going on television? Her speech, the support? The phone calls? The forming of the group, her presidency? The concert and the demonstrations against the line?
12. The governor, the irony of their transferring the pylon over his house? The interview with Floyd? The governor's aide and his being dismissed?
13. The organisation of the farmers, some unwilling, wanting the money? Their angers? The collage of the collaboration of the farmers, their exercises in sabotage? The finale and their achieving their purposes? The executive going on television and backing down?
14. The achievement of the farmers? The study of the environment? The effect of electricity? Unlimited progress? The telemovie as a means for promulgating an ecological message?
