The Real Dirt on Farmer John
by Taggart Siegel
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: John Peterson, Lesley Littlefield, Teri LangDirector: Taggart Siegel
Brand: GAIAM AMERICAS
Composer: Dirty Three
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 82 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 05-52318
Studio: Gaiam
Product features:
- Director Taggart Siegel focuses his cameras on radical farmer John Peterson for this documentary. Peterson turned his farm into a haven for hippies, radicals, and artists in the 1960s, only to find the people he aimed to help turned on him as the years passed. THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN highlights these events, and shows how Peterson eventually turned his life around after the tumultuous uprisin
Movie Reviews of The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Movie Review: Inspiring!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Real Dirt on Farmer John tells the incredible yet true story of John Peterson who was one of the very few farmers able to remain a farmer after the devastating financial crisis most farms faced in the 1980s. The story is told very well with great footage of John's family and himself when he was younger growing up on what was then his parents' farm; this really serves to give us an excellent idea of what farming life was like back in the 1950s. There's also interesting commentary by John's neighbors even if they aren't always too kind to John; he was not like them so they thought him weird. Worse yet, they intentionally and very maliciously spread bad and false rumors about him which you will learn about as you watch this movie. The documentary flows along at a very good pace and I was never once bored. The cinematography is excellent, too.
We see wonderful footage of John Peterson growing up on the farm; his mother had purchased a movie camera and she loved to document their life on the farm. John is able to recall his father and his kindly Uncle Harold by reviewing these old home movies and that's great. We see them building their barn (this clip is actually near the end of the film) and we also see them plowing the fields and raising livestock.
The story is told through John's eyes; we learn how when John's father died he was expected at an early age (he was just starting to get ready for college) to run the farm; he even chose a college only eight miles away so that he could tend to the farm as much as possible. He especially didn't want to fail his parents by having the farm go south on his watch. We learn how the farm became a hippie haven in the 1960s when John was in college. The idealistic young men and women from Beloit College helped John to run the farm and they all had a great deal of fun doing it; this also introduced John to new ways of thinking and a whole new sense of artistic creativity and freedom that he cherishes to this day. Unfortunately, however, we also learn that the farm was not always an easy place and John admits that he had to take time away from the farm more than once in his life. He traveled to Mexico to deal with his feelings and get a reprieve from the pressure of it all.
Amazingly enough, John manages to save the farm despite the economic woes most farmers faced during the 1980s. I don't want to tell you how he saves the farm; it would spoil it for you and I don't want to do that. I have also left out some other material so that this documentary will be as powerful and interesting as possible without spoilers.
The DVD comes with some very nice bonus features. We get a documentary feature entitled "Bitter Harvest;" "The Bug Song" music video and "The Farmer John Song" music video. There are deleted scenes and even more!
The Real Dirt on Farmer John is quite a powerful, moving documentary that will touch your heart and stay in your mind for quite some while. John Peterson's story is inspiring to say the least; and that's terrific. I highly recommend this DVD.
Summary of The Real Dirt on Farmer John
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