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Independent filmmaker David Sutherland's
The Farmer's Wife immerses us in this intimate portrait of the lives of a young Nebraska farm couple, Juanita and Darrel Buschkoetter. Shot on location over three years,
The Farmer's Wife follows the couple and their three children as they endure the seemingly insurmountable economic and emotional struggles of trying to run a family farm in America in the 1990s. The dramatic story of the Buschkoetters' everyday lives plays out in their own words, in their own home, gleaned from over 200 hours of film shot on location. The sensitive microphones pick up their sighs and prayers as well as the unscripted conversations that make up the film's narrative. With candor and intimacy, they discuss problems familiar to many families, urban and rural alike: parents who have trouble accepting their grown children's families, siblings who worry about a fair distribution of their parents' assets, deciding whether to be a stay-at-home mother or seek employment outside the home, extreme financial stress, marital difficulties, and so on. With faith, hope, and hard work, Darrel and Juanita manage to hold on to their marriage and save their farm. This is an uplifting, intimate look at the struggle to live a traditional life in a changing world.
--Tara Chace
