A River Runs Through It
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Movie Reviews of A River Runs Through It
Movie Review: Beautiful
Summary: 5 Stars
I've heard naysayers badmouth this movie, but I've never understood it. They use descriptors such as "preachy", "overly dramatic", "self-important", and so on. Good grief! What are you, bait fishers (not that there's anything wrong with that)? This is the story of this man's family, and it is truly beautiful.
I guide trout fishing trips in Missouri, so, of course, I love this movie partly for the fishing. This film explained my fly-fishing passion to my wife more effectively than my words and dragging her along on a few fishing trips ever could. The scenes are filmed magnificantly and are done in such a way that you can follow the logic and instinct that each fisherman uses to catch each fish. However, the story is so much more than this.
The story begins with Norman making note that there was never a clear line between religion and fly-fishing in his family, and that parallel continues throughout the story and his life. Success as a fly-fisherman is based on knowledge, physical skill, intuition, and emotion, but balance is also required. That balance only comes through spirituality, whether you are stiving to be a Godly person, or whether you simply commune with nature in a spiritual fashion. Without balance, a tangled line can cause you to pull your hair out. With balance, even the most unsuccessful fishing trip brings joy. And so Norman stuggles with understanding his younger brother Paul, who has attained such miraculous balance on the river, but whose life away from the river is rapidly spinning out of control. In the end, the observant viewer should recognize that it is Paul's pride that eventually leads to his downfall, and it is the family's failure at their attempts to rescue Paul that they continue to struggle with the remainder of their lives as well.
Norman spends his life trying to tap into God's balance through fly-fishing in the hopes that he will someday understand what happened to his family and why. Perhaps finally writing his book helped him to answer a few of those questions.
Walt Fulps
http://www.MissouriTroutHunter.com
Movie Review: Enchanting
Summary: 5 Stars
Any director can fill a screen with pretty things and call it beautiful, just as any writer can fill a page with words and call it poetry. Those who have not yet been deluded into believing in total relativism know, however, how difficult true beauty and true poetry are to create. Greatness in film, like greatness in poetry, requires hard work, and that work comes to little unless it is inflamed with a divine light.
A River Runs Through it is a work of great beauty and true poetry. It is a film that I believe is destined to become a significant part of our national heritage, and in the long run I also believe that it is the most significant work for which Robert Redford will be remembered (not to take anything away from his other excellent work.) During his time here on earth, it would appear that he has been fortunate enough to attain something resembling wisdom, and all of it is communicated in the exquisitely simple, yet divinely inspired, way in which this film gives us these characters and this story.
Having also read Norman MacLean's books, I will mention that this film is an "adaptation" of his story of the same title. It is, however, that rarest of adaptations in that it gives up nothing to the original, and does it full and complete justice in every way that matters.
With each viewing of this film over the years, its profound use of symbolism and metaphor becomes ever more apparent to me. It is truly a family story in that it revolves around the universal themes of sibling rivalry, parental tribulation, the tenuous beginnings (and deep foundations) of love and the seemingly random but somehow inevitable movements of the hand of fate. You don't need to be a fisherman or have any interest in fly fishing to be deeply moved by this film; you simply need to be a human being.
In closing, I would like to beg Mr. Redford for a digitally remastered and restored director's cut in widescreen on DVD with an interview with him as a special feature. This film deserves the royal treatment, and it's about time it got it, don't you think?
Movie Review: no clear line between religion and fly fishing
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes the movie is filmed in beautiful Montana - though I do not recall any winter scenes and those must be part of what formed young boys growing up there. Equally cold should be the religious view. This is somewhat reflected in the house. It can be especially seen in the contrast between the family of the future bride (why not see the wedding?) Methodists ("Baptists that can read") and that of the groom - Presbyterians. This might have played out somewhat like the contrast between families in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". But this does not seem to be the main point. The main contrast is between brothers. Suppose the one has religion and the other has fishing. One becomes a professor: the news sends mom into a most embarrassing explosion of joy. The other wants to be a professional fly fisherman - but there is no such profession. This frustration leads to the conflict in Paul who clearly is not full of joy with anything else he does. Booze and a wonderfully though too briefly developed character of an Indian woman - (if only she could have played a bigger role in more ways than one!) are all that keep Paul from the deep end - even Presidents don't consider fishing with enough seriousness. "What are you going to catch them with?" "The end of my line." Fishing might hold all the answers - especially if you listen to the voices under the rocks - but society demands something more and Paul can not manage this. For any parent that worries about losing one - or several - how do you know they are saved? - this is a mortal dilemma. Yes, we can love them completely even without understanding, but is this a flaw in Presbyterianism? Is that a sufficiently emotional religious connection with the divine in man? Baptists lose some of their own too - and to the same things. "Why do the ones who need help the most refuse to take the help they are offered?" (I am sure I did not get that quote correctly but it is close...) Good question.
On a lighter note, my wife and I argued over whether or not this is a "chick flick" or not. I thought yes, she thought no. "It's just about men fishing!"
Movie Review: A Movie the critics in New York will never understand
Summary: 5 Stars
Preface-I am assuming that anyone reading this, has either seen the movie or read the book. If you haven't, read the summary above and then read this because I won't repeat the storyline.
Just as the Godfather is more about family than it is about gangsters, A River Runs Through It is more than about fly fishing. I was thinking it may be about Grace, as in having a state of grace about one's and one's own loved ones destinies. Why is it that the people who need our help the most, refuse to accept it" asks Jessie. I couldn't think of an answer. In reading the reviews of the book and later the movie by critics from the Northeast, I found myself asking why they seemed to miss the whole point of the movie. One reason might be one of scale. The east is small and crowded and I think the people living there prefer to place people into easily definable boxes-"liberal" "right wing conservative" "jew" "black" "hick" etc. Easterners think small. The West on the other hand is big. The land is open, the mountains, rivers and lakes are big and the people are open in their thinking and in how they choose to live their lives. Norman believes he can be a great fisherman, a boxer in college and a intellectual. He doesn't limit himself. Paul defines himself more narrowly but wanting to grow up to be a professional fly fisherman and when that doesn't pan out, does the next best thing by finding a job where most of his time is his own, leaving plenty of time to fish. Eastern critics can't, I believe" imagine such a place. Smug and complacent in their view that the east is the center of all things, they haven't the energy or curiosity to learn about a place different from Manhattan or Boston. That is their loss. Don't make it yours. Read the book and watch the movie.
Movie Review: A beautiful film about youth, achievement, and corruption.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a beautiful film. It made a lasting impression on me in a way that few films ever manage to do. It is set in 1920s Montana, a land that still had some of the Old West left, and as the story says, "a land with dew still on it..." The real star of the story is Montana itself, and this film I think fully captures the flavor of that place in those times. The cinamatography of this film is very good, and gives the viewer an appreciation of the natural beauty of the state.
The basic theme of the story is the maturation of two brothers, and their relationship with their stern, Presbyterian minister father. One brother is level-headed, destined for a life of teaching and achievement. The other brother, equally precocious, is seduced by his love of gambling and drinking to the point where his life becomes corrupt. As his father says, sometimes those who need our help do not want it, and indeed do not wish to be helped. The common bond between the brothers and their father is fly fishing in the great trout rivers of Montana, and this makes for a wonderful backdrop to a very interesting storyline. The interaction between these protagonists is a fascinating interplay of personalities, and (although you may not know it from this review) the storyline of this film moves along briskly, and keeps the viewer's interest.
Although I usually don't like films that feature a narration, this one is an exception. Robert Redford (who has no other role in the film) does a fine job narrating the film from the standpoint of Norman Mclain, one of the two brothers.
The DVD is crisp and clear, and constitutes a good value. As far as I could tell, no scenes were cut. The discerning viewer will return to this one many times.