The Displaced Person

Top Five Reasons to See "The Displaced Person":

5 - John Houseman: surprisingly funny as a priest who adores peacocks, those symbols of resurrection, since salvation is central to this and all of O'Connor's work.

4 - Samuel L. Jackson: probably an embarrassing early role for him (his second according to IMDb), as a slow-minded farmhand routinely addressed by the dreaded "N" word.

3 - Bill Conti - scoring this TV movie fresh off his Rocky victory.

2 - Robert Earl Jones - father of James, playing a seriously "yessum" farmhand.

and the number one reason ...

1 - Andalusia - for lovers of Flannery's writing, this movie was shot on the working farm in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she spent most of her life, just twelve years after her death. The peacock probably wasn't one of hers, though (see http://www2.gcsu.edu/library/sc/collections/oconnor/focfaq.html). But who could tell the difference, anyway?

"The Displaced Person" is a powerful film with unending symbolism,metaphors, imagery, and just a very intriguing story. The story does well in contemporary issues because it deals with racism, spirituality, religious hypocrisy, individual freedom and, last but not least, immigration.

In today's debate over immigration policy, "The Displaced Person" fits perfectly in how we treat our fellow man.

In today's debate over racism, just how well do we accept other ethnicities that may be a bit different than our own?

IN today's debate over spirituality and religion, just much of our so called religion and spirituality is really self preservation, and self righteousness, rather than loving and giving of oneself?

I could go on and on, but the messages borne out in this film are endless. Also, the acting is fantastic. Mrs. Shortley and Mr. shortley are two of the strangest characters you'll ever see on the screen. Mrs. McIntyre is a total hypocrite and her priest never gives up on her. The last few lines of the story still ring in my head: "Mrs. McIntyre, we now have a clearly idea of what purgatory is, don't we?"

This is a fascinating gem of a film, although it is far from cheerful and heart-warming, as it is bathed in unremitting gloom. Flannery O'Connor, who died tragically young at the age of 39 in 1964, was a prominent writer from the Southern United States, whose star was in the ascendant in the 1960s and 1970s, and I hope it has not fully waned today. Her voice was authentic, the South she described was her south, and if it was often grim and gloomy, well, that was her perspective. This film based on her short story was filmed near Milledgeville, Georgia, the town where she died. We can be sure that events bearing similarity to those described in the story actually occurred. It all rings with the truth of a well-toned bell, though it tolls mournfully. In the 1970s and 1980s, Bob Geller, whom I knew slightly at that time, acted as a devoted and highly conscientious Executive Producer of a whole series of these adaptations of classic American short stories for PBS Television, many of them available today on DVD. I believe they were all shot on 16 mm film, which explains why the colour and image quality are not up to much, and clearly no one has the money to pay for digitally remastering them, as there is less interest in serious literature every day, and no one could produce this series now, as decadence descends upon us like a tsunami. This film contains a magnificent and brilliant central performance by Irene Worth, and a superb performance also by Lane Smith. Their Georgian accents are perfect. A rather subdued and vague performance by John Houseman as a Catholic priest was probably intended as such, as the character was meant to be like that. No one should see this film when feeling down, as there is little sunlight to glimpse through the clouds of hatred, prejudice, and wickedness. But if you are feeling strong, it is a powerful film of a powerful story, however depressing it may be to know the truth about humans sometimes. If a voice cries out in pain, we should at least listen.

What we have here is a failure to communicate, as Paul Newman might have said. O'Connor's fiction has a central theme of redemption; the most vile creatures in her stories are all given equal opportunity to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, as is the case with her story "The Displaced Person." In it, Mrs. Shortley is given true vision of the wide world around her just before she dies; in the film, lacking the expression of a narrator to provide indirect discourse, she simply dies, and as a University of Nebraska professor put it (can't remember his name), the issue meshed within the movie becomes a sociological one and not a spiritual one.

That being said, the film is still a sight to see, even for those not familiar with the original story. Sadly, it's hard to get a copy of it these days (I was reduced to watching it on 16MM). Probably the most rousing performance for me was not future film star Samuel L. Jackson, or even John Houseman as the otherworldly priest, but was instead Mrs. Shortley (Shirley Stoler). Her facial expressions alone (which, in the story, are accompanied by some of the most comic thoughts to ever grace the pages of literature)are classic in themselves. Still, the challenge of putting O'Connor's text on the screen with all its textual twists and turns (linguists seem to go ape over O'Connor, and after a little guided reading, it's not hard to see why) is a large challenge, and for all of Horton Foote's skill, it still falls somewhat short of the story's original theme.

Like John Huston's film of Flannery O'Connor's novel Wise Blood, there seems to be a miracle at work here. The acting, to start with, is superb. Each and every performance so true to its character, not overstepping or hamhandedness in any way, especially from Irene Worth who is just so perfect. Robert Earl Jones and Samuel L. Jackson likewise give beautiful understated performances in what could easily have been cartoony roles. The only drawback for me is of course the missing voice of the author which is inevitable in a transfer from print to screen. Still, this is a wonderful interpretation of a classic work.