A young wife (Ayn Ruymen) recollects her journey on a small wagon train through the Nebraska Territory in 1848 on their way to Oregon. Katherine Helmond is on hand as Aunt Sara.
"Liza's Pioneer Diary" (1976) is a realistic pioneer-oriented Western about the grueling hardships of crossing the pristine prairie. It was released on PBS in America and, apparently, part of their dramatic showcase series, "Visions" (season 1, episode 5), yet it's very much a standalone movie. Just don't expect any eye-rolling talk about "the fastest gun in the West" or any other mythical elements. It's a docudrama that eschews cliches and brings the frontier of the mid-1800s alive with sometimes painful naturalism.
Criticized as a "feminist Western," that's not the case. It's a Western from the perspective of a young bride who has to rise to the challenge if she wants her family and the rest of the denizens of the wagon train to make it to Oregon. She slowly realizes that she has to break free from the shackles of being "delicate" (and veritably hopeless in the wilderness), as her husband ignorantly calls her. In his mind, he's trying to protect her, but this is actually a form of psychological abuse.
Speaking of the husband, the flick wisely doesn't make him out to be a villain. He's a good man, but he needs humbled a little, not to mention comprehend that his wife isn't a useless flower. She's capable and he's going to need her talents if they're going to be successful.
Forty-five years after this debuted, the recent series "1883" covered similar terrain. I recommend that show, but it falsified history by eliminating any mention of God and Christianity, which were instrumental in the lives of the majority of settlers traveling West. "Liza's Pioneer Diary" doesn't make this glaring mistake. It covers many of the same privations and trials, but offers a greater sense of hope with glimmers of joy and light.
The film runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in northeast New Mexico in the Las Vegas area (not Nevada), which is about an hour's drive east of Santa Fe.
GRADE: B.
