Movies Ashdoc's Movie Review---August : Osage County

[ashdoc]

The story is set the midwest of America , in an isolated region in the state of Oklahoma....

And it's also set in the sweltering heat of august , when the plains are baked by the sun and people are drenched in sweat....

The old patriarch of a family has disappeared and his daughters have to come together to his house where they have to confront this crisis....

As they gather in the house , their interaction brings out the life stories of these women....

And boy....they are strong women who have taken their own decisions in life.....

Each woman has a different character , and as the different characters mingle there is bound to be friction....

And as they mingle and friction starts , their life stories tumble out in front of the audience....

As expected , the stories are out of the ordinary---who would want to watch a film with ordinary stories anyway ??

Their mother's ( acted by Meryl Streep ) secrets come out too---including her drug addiction....

So does her loneliness , her rancor about having being abandoned by 2 of her daughters ( except one ) who have gone elsewhere to build their lives while she and her husband were left to fend for themselves....

But what what about their father ?? What happened to him ??

The movie has some answers to this....

Both Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts ( playing the eldest daughter ) have put good performances of women who are hardly afraid to speak out their mind....

The men in the movie are somewhat overshadowed by the women , but have their own personalities too....

As past skeletons from the closet tumble out , the crisis they have come to confront gives way to another crisis....

To be honest crises and confrontations are what we come to watch in the theaters anyway.....

Two other persons are there to add fuel to the fire---a native american ( real Indians are those like myself who live in Asia , remember ??!! ) housekeeper and an aunt with an unpleasant past , both of who are tough ladies too....

So how do the sisters deal with the situation ?? Go and watch the movie for that....

Of course , the movie is more about talk ( and that talk is but naturally done in a very loud voice at times ) than action and also a little bit of emotion....

Verdict---Okay .

 

[spnadmin]

Ashdoc ji

Maybe the rating would be higher than OK when cultures match. Most stories of America are not glamorous, nor are they stories of rank misery either. This story would ring true for many Americans, particularly those born and bred in mid-western USA.

My own mother is from rural, mid-western, farming stock. She is tough as a cast iron bridge. I chose that metal because it does eventually rust and weaknesses and flaws start to show in time. At the risk of creating an American stereotype, women from the mid-west are tough, tougher than tough, in the country and in the city, even when they present a sleek, groomed and chic appearance. They have to be because they have to live up to the legacy of other mid-western women.

My mother always said, a Philhower woman gets what she wants. She just does. I don't know about that, but I do know neither she, nor her sisters, nor aunts, nor cousins whine, simp or wheedle. But they do butt heads. Paris Hilton, nor other babes of fame, just don't fit the mold. These rural women bought their wardrobes at the best stores in Chicago, and went home to pickle, can vegetables, and butcher pigs. It is that contradiction between the woman of the earth and a woman who deigns she will perm her hair, wear good leather shoes, and above all rouge her face (wear blush) that makes the characters a bit puzzling.

Though practically no one pickles, cans or butchers pigs any longer, that legacy of a "woman" adheres.

They are hard women to break. Where were the men? They were doing men things, working in the field, factory, or bank, showing up for breakfast and dinner, beaming like potentates, and then making themselves scarce, in a shed or a card game with some other guys, somewhere. How much room is there at the table for that much psychological energy? And yes, sometimes they get lost, literally or in drink and gambling. I never saw an uncle yet seek forgiveness from an aunt. I shall stop here. My mother never taught me how to be what she managed to become - and that was a lot given she was orphaned at 4 by a mother who died in childbirth and raised by her 14 year old sister, then later by an unmarried aunt. Of course she could not teach me. I was raised on the east coast.

This is one movie I will definitely follow up on. The summers are scorching from May through August. Your review has left me intrigued.

 

[ashdoc]

Spnadminji ,

You have some real writing ability yourself !!