Given that three women in the Nebraska Territory all went raving mad at the same time (maybe it was the Danish rye bread), this tale grabs us immediately with its starkness, bitterness and coldness, not to mention lack of compassion. Tommy Lee Jones as a drunken old reject is right on the mark. Hillary Swank is no longer a sexy young gal, rather a bitter lonely hard-working single woman trying to eke out a living in the unforgiving wilderness. Every scene, every moment is captivating. You may not even like what you're seeing, but you can't stop watching. Somehow, even though I thought three mad women at one time seemed contrived, I had to accept that it was just that way. Shortly after getting organized, the film turns into a road picture, but what a road, or lack thereof. Jones, Swank and the three locas have to traverse empty countryside, facing drought, Indians, hunger, privation of every kind, for at least five weeks to get to a place where a kindly preacher's wife (Meryl Streep, as usually so immersed in this small part that you just know she's really a long-suffering preacher's wife) has promised to care for them. Developer James Spader too has only a few brief moments to do his thing, but it's unforgettable. When my granddaughter was small, we used to watch films together. Sometimes when we watched a film she really really liked, (think Zoot Suit), she'd burst out crying at the end. I'd ask, "Why are you crying, Baby Girl?" and she'd say, "Because I didn't want it to be over." I felt this way about The Homesman. I didn't want it to be over. I had lots more questions and things I'd like to see resolved. What happened to the hotel and town development? What happened to the man (William Fichtner, always a pleasure) and his two little girls? What happened to the crazy women and whatever happened to Briggs (Jones)? A sad cold story, but one you just can't walk away from.
Review of The Homesman
