Hollywood actor Tommy Lee Jones, known for his serious and somber roles, made his directorial debut with the neo-western “Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” (2005). The film was highly praised at its Cannes premiere, winning best actor award for Jones and script writer award for Guillermo Arriaga (“Babel”). Jones’ first directorial outing looked at life in contemporary American west from an unaccustomed angle. “Three Burials” is under-rated and never achieved commercial success. Perhaps that might be the reason for Jones directing only one TV movie, “The Sunset Limited” – a moderate adaptation of Corman McCarthy’s play. Now he is back with another gritty story, “The Homesman” (2014), set on the frontier western.
For “The Homesman”, Jones has adapted Glendon Swarthout’s
serious and lyrical novel. Old western tales is one of the significant parts of
the American cultural narrative. The old western frontier had thriving outlaws
and scalding temperature, but it still promised a new life for an innocuous American
family. However, in most of the male-centric or cowboy-centric western movies, women
merely serve as a footnote. They are either portrayed as angels or as sluts. We
have seen how men surrender themselves to the bleak atmosphere of Old west to provide
for their family, whereas women stay in their kitchen and cuddle the husband, whenever
he is in despair. But, how much did the women sacrifice in Old West in order to
pursue opportunity in a sparsely settled area? Jones’ “The Homesman” provides
that rare glimpse. It shows how the old western frontier consumed women’s
spirit and mind. The film is little uneven and may not achieve the critical
acclaim of “Three Burials”, but it is still a fascinating picture.
The film is set in the harsh Nebraska territory of 1850.
Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank), who is in her early 30’s lives alone in a
thriving farm. However, she is not considered as an ideal marriage material by
the men. Mary is well-educated, resourceful, and a little tough. He suggests
marriage to eligible men folk of her town like making a business proposition.
Although, men enjoy her food and drinks, they plainly reject her marriage
proposals, claiming that she is ‘too bossy’. One day, the town’s local preacher
Dowd (John Lithgow) tells her awful news about three women in the frontier, who
have gone insane. The three women – (Grace Summer, Miranda Otto, and Sonja Richter) couldn’t endure the cycle of hardship, poverty, desolation and child
death. Few very shocking scenes showcase how madness has consumed these women.
Mary Bee volunteers to take these women in a wagon to Iowa,
where a churchwoman has accepted to take care of them. Mary bee takes the job
only when the women’s husband fails to step up. The men are either baffled by
their situation or eager to get rid of their wives. But, Mary can’t ride alone
with three insane women for a six-week journey. That’s when she finds George
Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), an alcoholic, old army deserter. Mary saves Briggs
from being lynched and offers $300 to aid her in this terrible trip. The duo
mutually resent each other and encounter dangerous Native American tribes,
bandits, and various other hardships.
*************** Spoilers ahead *********************
“The Homesman” starts off in the style of old frontier
movies like "3: 10 to Yuma”, and John Ford movies, but also possesses the
grimness and an offbeat structure. Although, Jones is portrayed as selfish, old
man, the story on the outset, somewhat resembles “The African Queen” (1951). The old
classic depicted an odd romance between odd couples with opposite temperaments.
However, Jones only touches on this romanticism and mostly focuses on the
bleakness of the women’s situation. Rather than pushing towards an unlikely
love story, Jones digs deeper into each characters’ frailties (something
director Kelly Reichdart with “Meek’s Cutoff” (2010)).
The movie has plenty of tonal swings. It is brutally
shocking, depressing, darkly humorous, sentimental, and also takes metaphorical
turns. Jones and his co-screen writers Wesley Oliver and Kieran Fitzgerald
wander gracefully from episode to episode without a sense of urgency. Mary Bee’s
death, happens half-way into the third act, may seem like a move to stir the
movie’s dramatic proceedings and as means to promote Jones as the protagonist. But,
Mary’s suicide only further explores the rough life lead by women in the 1850’s
western frontier. Our society would happily utter the word ‘self made-man’. But
in the case of Mary Bee, a self made-woman, it remains as a curse. She is a
strong woman with immense wealth, but, when it comes to marriage men seem to prefer
young naive, obedient girl from the East. All of Mary Bee’s hardships and
achievements are only viewed as a weakness by the patriarchal society. Although her success seems to be only thing keeping her out of the wagon, it doesn’t
matter much. She is as imprisoned as the women, chained inside the wagon. When
she is harshly refused and humiliated by Briggs, it takes her beyond the
breaking point. We also get a hint (especially the ‘grave robbery’ scene) that
how the journey itself casts a dark spell over her.
The sudden change of examining women’s life in the old west
from Swank’s to Jones’s point of view is another huge shift, but it is fairly
effective and also packs a punch. The shift also shows how men cope with their
loneliness and depression. Briggs gets the $300 dollars, buys a new suit and
gets into a high-stakes poker game in a respectable bar. But, he is rejected
harshly (on the basis of class). Now, when we see him in the final scene, he is
dealing with the pain in his heart by getting back to his old-self. He wildly
drinks, sings and dances in a boat along with other roughneck male revelers,
and traveling to West to make a possible fortune. But, Mary Bee and three
insane women, who just wanted gentleness and love; who all couldn’t deal with
suppressed pain remains forgotten. We view the final image of rowdy merrymakers
from a distance (emotionally and visually), because by now, we know that these
men are pursuing wealth at the cost of women’s sanity.
As Mary Bee, Swank plays a meatiest role after a long time.
She keeps her character’s emotions under a tight check and gracefully shows the
blistering pain through those eyes. Jones performance is mildly amusing as well
as turns poignant in the end. The odd chemistry between the pair places the
film at the mid-point of a bleak drama and a buddy-comedy. Rodrigo Prieto’s precise
cinematography provides both meditative and gorgeous images.
“The Homesman” (122 minutes) might be compared with Jones’ “Three
Burials” and declared as ‘unruly’ and ‘a misfire’, but it was a thoroughly
satisfying movie experience. It is a movie that doesn’t sugar-coat its themes,
and possesses devastating images that can’t be mentally carried away.
Trailer
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