THE HOMESMAN
US, 2014, 122 minutes, Colour.
Hilary Swank, Tommy Lee Jones, Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Barry Corbin, David Dencik, Evan Jones, William Fichtner, Tim Blake Nelson, John Lithgow, James Spader, Jesse Plemons, Haillee Steinfeld, Meryl Streep.
Directed by Tommy Lee Jones.
Tommy Lee Jones is now a grizzled veteran of 40 years of acting. A decade ago he directed a striking film, a Mexican-Western?, The Three Burials of Melchiades Estrada. For his next directing venture he has not moved absolute West, rather setting his story in Nebraska and a journey into Iowa. It is not exactly a western, rather a story of the 19th century in the midwest.
The screenplay explains that a homesman is a person who escorts someone to their place of origin or their final destination. The title is a bit misleading because the first homesman is actually a woman, Mary Bee, played by Hilary Swank, one of her most striking performances.
The situation is this: several women have been adversely affected by their lives in these isolated surroundings, children dying from diphtheria, a woman adversely affected by her mother’s death, another mother suffering mental disorder and killing one of her children. There is a mixed response from their husbands, not always supportive. When the local minister (John Lithgow) arranges that the three women be transported into Iowa to a caring environment under the auspices of religious minister, the husbands are somewhat unwilling, but lots are taken in the church and it is Mary Bee who gets the mission to take the women.
Mary Bee is a lonely woman, hard working on her farm, wanting to get married but men rejecting her because she is severe and because she is plain. Unexpectedly, she comes across a man accused of land grabbing, sitting on his horse, a noose around his neck tied to a tree. She frees him but does a bargain that he will accompany her on the trek. Officially, he is the homesman.
Moving through midwest landscapes, beautifully photographed, the group, with the unwilling women tied up inside a wagon that looks something like a prison cell, they encounter the elements, confronting Indians, a horseman who threatens one of the women. The effect on the homesman is that he keeps his distance in many ways, thinking of his financial reward, but moved at times to help the women and to respond to Mary Bee and her desire to be married.
Just when one thinks that all will be well after the long and arduous journey, there is a shock experience which remains significant right to the end of the film.
There are some more episodes before the homesman is able to hand over the three women, and encounter with an entrepreneur who wants to turn a isolated hotel into a significant centre (James Spader) who is on the eventual end of the homesman’s anger. When they arrive at the destination, the minister’s wife is there to meet them and receive the women. Meryl Streep must be a friend of Tommy Lee Jones. They appeared together in Hope Springs. Here she has a small cameo role, bringing some civilisation and manners to what has been a hard journey.
One of the other reasons for Meryl Streep’s appearance would be her support of one of her daughters, Grace Gummer, who plays one of the women as does Australia’s Miranda Otto.
This is a very serious story, well-told, portrait of characters who have succumbed to the hardships of their life in war, in isolation, in marriage, with children, with many hopes dashed.
Not an easy film. A little hope at the end but mainly an hour ironic temporary conclusion to the homesman’s journey.
1. A western or a mid-Western? A US 19th-century story?
2. The setting, Nebraska, the open fields, the crops, the town, shops, the bank? The church, The countryside? The trek? Iowa, crossing the river, the town and its civilisation, culture? The musical score?
3. The visuals, the beauty, beauty for a harsh story?
4. The title, the people who needed to go home, the person bringing them home? Briggs and his job? Mary Bee and her task? A mixture of failure and success?
5. Hilary Swank as Mary Bee, her story, in herself, ploughing the field, cooking the meal, welcoming the farmer, her proposing marriage, his negative reaction? Her appearance, severity, plain? The story of the women? Her concern? The arrival of the pastor, his attentions to her? in church, the plight of the women, to be delivered to the church in Iowa, drawing lots? Mary Bee wanting to be part? Her agreements, the preparations? Going to the bank, getting the money?
6. The picture of the three women: Gro, her husband, the death of her mother, treatment from her mother, the effect of her death, burial, the dreams of her mother? Arabella, her husband, her being young, the children dying, diphtheria, turning her mind? Theoline, her husband, desperate, the birth of the child, putting it in the toilet bowl?
7. The narrative comment about women and isolation, suffering, illness, madness?
8. Briggs, claim-jumping? The men attacking him, shooting, lynching him, sitting on the horse with the noose? Mary Bee finding him? Getting him to do the job? His motivation, his past, military service, aimless? The promise of cash?
9. Collecting the women, their husbands, letting them go, the reactions? The wooden cart? In the cart, chained? The destination? The weeks of the journey?
10. The women during the trip, screaming, the effect on Mary Bee, becoming calmer, the nights, sleeping out on the rugs, food? Arabella and her running away, finding her, with the traveller, his attitude, sexual motivations, the confrontation with Briggs, the shooting?
11. The Indians, fear, Briggs giving the horse, their pursuit of the horse, his getting the fresh horse from the man he killed?
12. The details of the travel, hard, the terrain, coming across the grave, the child, the wooden engraving, Mary Bee staying, fixing the grave, becoming lost,
desperate, hungry and eating the grass, finally seeing the firelight? Her being upset?
13. The night with Briggs, her proposal, his refusal, the sexual experience in the night, her hanging herself? The impact of this sudden death on the drama?
14. Briggs, finding the cash? Bringing the women to the river, the ferry? The encounter at the hotel, the Irishman, refusing service, the plans for the business, the guns? Briggs and his return, telling the maid to go, the food, setting the hotel on fire?
15. Delivering the women, the Minister’s wife, receiving them, her kindness?
16. Briggs going to town, buying new clothes, at the hotel, wanting to gamble, the banknote not being valid, his drinking, getting the wooden heading for Mary Bee’s grave, his tribute to her? The proposal to the maid, giving her the shoes? His leaving, on the ferry, the board going overboard? His dancing?
17. Realistic and harsh story, the wry observations about human nature, grim?
