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Cast:
Janet McTeer... ...Dr. Lily Penleric
Aidan Quinn... ...Tom Bledsoe
Pat Carroll... ...Viney Butler
Jane Adams... ...Elna Penleric
Greg Cook... ...Fate Honeycutt
Iris DeMent... ...Rose Gentry
Stephanie Roth... ...Alice Kincaid
David Patrick Kelly... ...Earl Giddens
Directed by: Maggie Greenwald
Written by: Maggie Greenwald
Rated PG-13 for sexual content and an intense scene of childbirth
Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes
The Hills Are Alive
She has been passed over again. Dr. Lily Penleric (Janet McTeer)
has devoted her life to the study of music and is one of the
most knowledgeable instructors at the university. A promotion
she has had her sights set on for a long time has again gone
to another party. Frustrated and more determined than ever,
she heads for the Appalachian mountains with her bulky recording
device in tow. Her plan is to record music never heard before.
"Songcatcher"
utilizes the familiar yet engaging premise of a heroine entering
a world she first sees as small and insignificant in certain
ways, but comes to understand the close-knit compassion of
its inhabitants and learns from them as well. In this case,
the teacher becomes a student of life.
The story
takes place in 1907. Lily's trek has her reuniting with her
younger sister, Elna (Jane Adams). Elna runs a schoolhouse
that serves as the sole learning institution for the area.
While there, Lily is introduced to hypnotic songs passed on
from generation to generation that have never been recorded.
Eager to compile the hauntingly beautiful melodies, she ventures
further into the mountains. With the help of an elderly shotgun-toting
matriarch (Pat Carroll) and a lovely-voiced orphan (Emmy Rossum),
Lily grows closer the the land's inhabitants and their culture.
Not everyone is captivated by the newcomer, including tough
and talented musician Tom Bledsoe (Aidan Quinn). Upon their
first meeting, Tom accuses Lily of exploiting the locals with
her recording device and big city ways. Of course, they do
come to an understanding and eventually grow quite close.
The movie
was written and directed by Maggie Greenwald ("The Ballad
of Little Jo") who's no stranger to tackling difficult
issues, although she does so using broad narrative strokes.
She takes on some issues here as well; perhaps a tad too many.
We have subplots involving marital disputes, bootlegging,
homosexual relationships, religious zealots, and greedy coal
companies. Observing such a wide range of topics renders the
movie incapable of examining any one to great lengths. I admire
Greenwald's fearless approach to these variegated topics,
even if they're not the most intimate catechizations.
What really
makes the movie is the music. Like an outstretched arm to
the past, the songs carry an enchanting affirmation of the
songster's familial roots. The words house cross-generational
lessons that travel through the strands of time and back again
via the heart of the warbler.
With her
no-nonsense demeanor and unusually rugged facial features,
Janet McTeer perfectly embodies a tenacious gatherer of information.
Her transition from viewing the locals with a detached, semi-condescending
eye to that of a student of their culture is handled in a
delicate manner, as she never fully sacrifices her own roots,
but heeds the lessons learned from the ancestral seeds of
others.
While
not an earth-shattering exploration of social issues, "Songcatcher"
is nonetheless a fascinating journey through a culture whose
soul is the lyrical ballads that never age and never stop
speaking to the heart.
Copyright
2001 Michael Brendan McLarney
Critically
Ill
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