The Wishing Tree

MAUDLIN AND UTTERLY FORGETTABLE

This is a Hallmark-made "family" movie which means that it's maudlin to the point of being almost nauseating.

Clara is a single, successful, black, female attorney living in Savannah, Georgia. When her mother dies Clara returns to her childhood home and searches for closure. Her mother was an uneducated woman with a talent was telling fantasy stories. Clara saw her mother as a poor, ignorant and superstitious black woman. The remainder of the movie is the journey whereby Clara comes to understand that even ignorant and superstitious mothers have value! (I'm being sarcastic!)

The movie is "uber" (overly) politically correct. Clara is black. Her mother lived with a white family who loved her. The victim in the film is a black man who is accused of attacking a young white boy but who, it turns out, actually saved the child's life, All this allows Clara to achieve closure and everyone else to live happily ever after.

It's a mindless way to spend 90 minutes.

This is a great movie with well-thought-out dramatic subplots and a storyline that keeps you interested. It delves deep into the storytelling tradition of the deep south. It was filmed in Savannah, GA, making for mood-setting visuals. The only drawback that I find in the movie are the very unrealistic "southern" dialects used. This point is status quo for Hollywood. Once I got past the dialect problem, I was enchanted by the unfolding plot and great casting. Overall a wonderful movie.

Part of Showtime's series of original films, THE WISHING TREE is a heartwarming fairy tale set in a rural Georgian town. Acclaimed Czech director Ivan Passer lends the film a dreamy look and a sense of timelessness that is essential to the story. Alfre Woodard stars as Clara, a lawyer who has returned to her hometown after the death of her mother and begins to get caught up in a local myth many tell about the town. Determined to find the source of this legend, Clara digs deep into her past and uncovers some surprising information. Worth watching. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 3/22/2021

I watched this film before I did any research on it and I kept watching our protagonist, Alfre Woodard, trying to portray a 30 year old and it was all wrong. Albeit she is a beautiful woman but trying to pass her off as a 30 year old. This is NOT a GOOD IDEA because you can see every year of her age on her.. BTW at the time of the film she was 46 years old.

On top of that all of it is just all wrong. What is this? A nightmarish redo of "To Kill a Mockingbird"? Sophistic and ridiculous. Since 1999 (15 years) there have only been 249 votes on this film.

If you have a choice between watching paint dry and and this film...... go for the paint.

Watching this movie on a late Sunday morning in March I became more and more engrossed in the film. Containing elements of both drama and fairytale it made me sit up and concentrate until the very end. There's fine acting throughout, especially by the underrated Alfre Woodard, and a double intertwined plot that'll keep you interested to the end, unless you're made of stone and stressed out. In my opinion, an entertaing and understated movie, yeah, even a feelgood movie!!