Shadrach

This is movie portrays childhood, summer and the 30s in a wonderful and poetic way. An old man's will to be buried in the land he was born is no easy subject to put up in a movie, but the makers managed to give this story a very touchy style which helped it a lot. Children should watch it and learn what the Depression was like and how close we actually are to those days (the boy is alive nowadays and has met a man who has been a slave - history's not that far at all). And they would also learn a very deep lesson on life and its ways.

For once Andie McDowell stars in a role different from the high-class girl she used to play (think about Green Card and The Groundhog Day). And for once Harvey Keitel doesn't get on my nerve!

Scott Terra is one of my favorites. This movie here is a very good one, and he plays a substantial role. The story is fairly simple, but it is the fine cast and the cultural burden of how to deal with an old slave that adds a sincere message to the plot. Harvey Keitel plays - apart from Scott - a significant character. The messages of doing the right thing, of confronting the legacy of our cultural past and of dealing with death and the brittleness of life, mingled with the many calm and quiet sequences of the movie, make it a valuable example of emotional and sophisticated film-making. Scott is in the center, and he comes to experience both the tragedies and the magical moments of life, symbolized by the events of one summer's experiences.

I stumbled upon this movie, bored and flipping through channels. I can't give a review on scenery, music, direction, acting, etc. Because I viewed "Shadrach" after viewing "12 Years a Slave", binge-watching "Underground" (the one with Jurnee Smollett), and seeing update after update about the Capitol Insurrection and the George Floyd trial. I was left exhausted, sad and angry because truth hurts. So I'm watching "Shadrach" and was curious about Paul's curious summer with the Dabney family and Shadrach. And it was just - sweet. It draws you in. The fact that most of the cast were newcomers made it all the more special. Is it a believable story? I don't know. Can a woman in an impoverished marriage with 7 kids and guzzles beer like Gatorade still look so great? If only. But there is love winning over hatred, privileged and dirt poor folk worshipping together and civility over law. Take a break from the world and watch something sweet.

I've read quite a few reviews here and at other sites, and this movie sure seems to be taking its lumps (although I did read some favorable reviews). I don't know, though -- I rather liked it. It is a simple and straightforward story. It is certainly sentimentalized to some extent, but I am not one of those people for whom that is anathema. Despite its hard times, depression-era setting and poor white trash characters, there is a certain amount of idealization in the film. My gut feelings are that in real life Mr. Dabney, being a product of his time, would be more hard-hearted towards old Shadrach. Andie MacDowell is likeable as Mrs. Dabney, but she looked far too healthy and aerobically svelte to be the beer-guzzling alcoholic mother of a large, unwashed, lice-infested family living below the poverty level. Just having her clutch a beer bottle in almost every scene didn't quite pull off the illusion. Despite its simplification of complex social issues, its idealization of human nature fondly remembered in old age left me with kind of a warm fuzzy feeling. Some reviewers have rated "Shadrach" as being of "TV movie" quality, but I think a vice common to many TV movies is avoided here. Namely, trying to deal with tough, complex issues comprehensively in 90 to 120 minutes. The story is scaled down to its essence, and as such is nicely handled in an hour and a half. While Shadrach himself is sort of an enigma, trying to tell the story of his 99-year-long life in any sort of satisfying way could have expanded the film to epic, miniseries length. A film which touches on the issue of slavery in America, even obliquely, is bound to leave a certain amount of people unsatisfied if it does not proceed to rail at length about Man's inhumanity to Man. I just don't think that was the point of the film, though, and no film can satisfy everyone's expectations. I just see this as a sweet, sentimental, (and sure, rather unrealistic) view of events in a certain time and place, as seen through the eyes of a child. The fact that in a dream sequence young Paul sees Shadrach being presented with a Micky Mouse watch in the middle of the 19th century illustrates that we are seeing a child's-eye view of this story. I liked "Shadrach" enough to buy the video, and I think it's gotten sort of a bum rap.

I knew nothing of this movie, and chose it based on its stars, whom I have enjoyed in the past. The movie was an immensely pleasant surprise. I was most taken by intrinsic goodness and respect for dignity of the obviously low class, hard cussin', hard drinkin', smelly, Dabneys. Excellent.