mikesheldon55-1

Sucked sucked sucked.......and I love Meryl Streep. I REALLY disagree with the previous poster who thought Streep was great. She's done a variation on this role to death. Didn't you see 'She-Devil' or 'Death Becomes Her'? She was basically the same yet much funnier.I just wrote a letter to David Poland suggesting he's greatly underestimating her box office pull: she might be the BEST guaranteer of box office among female stars right now (I'm talking this decade)...but again..this was so routine. Her 'bitchiness' was more about editing than acting (Do you think wearing a different outfit and tossing a coat on a desk ten different times requires skill?). Hector Elizondo..oops, I mean Stanley Tucci, made no sense, Anne Hathaway made even less, and none of it was their fault. This was a horribly written/adapted piece of crap.

I just caught this movie on TCM and, up front, I tend to hate these kind of oats-sudsers. This movie had so much going on (plot, characters, cameos, Western clichés) that it just screamed Cinerama (Think 'How the West was Won') but it had one major aspect that took me by surprise: a well-written and extremely well-acted characterization by Maria Schell. She's actually the major star of this movie...Glenn Ford disappearing entirely the last 1/4.....and she handles every bit of it with humor, passion, and just the right amount of country ham. She's never a perfect wife or mother, and doesn't just change to fit the scene. I was just killing time watching this...and I honestly was fascinated. I had no idea who it was until I looked it up here (I hate that TCM often doesn't run credits) but now I want to see some other performances by her to see if she was this good all the time.

This should be mandatory viewing for every loud mouth American who pontificates about immigrants while shoving cheap food in their mouth supplied by workers from around the world. Don't let that statement keep you away..this is no bleeding hearts polemic. These are stories full of heart, sentiment (but not sentimentality), and love. The acting was beautiful: the child playing Mexican Pricilliano (sp?) gave an amazing performance, but an equal argument could be given in the Cuban and Morrocan stories too. The repeated use of actors was excellent. I wasn't totally sure of what I clearly was seeing. The film had humor, pathos, a touch of mysticism, tragedy.........wonderful music, beautiful photography. I guess I opened the review with my statement because I felt so completely immersed in three different cultures, and none of them were worlds that I felt like I really knew before. I just saw it at the Palm Springs Film Festival as one of the potential Academy Award nominees, and I wish it was available for more showings. I loved this film.