Customer Reviews

The Harp in the South

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My husband and I checked this DVD out from our local library to watch. If you like shows like the Waltons you will love this family drama. My husband and I couldn't stop watching it. We really enjoyed the characters and the dialogue. Believe it or not, we were riveted. The family survives some amazingly tough times. If you watch The Harp in the South you will definitely want to watch Poor Man's Orange the sequel to find out what happens to Roie and Dolour and the rest of the Darcy friends and family.

Harp in the South is a kind of mini-series following the fortunes on the lower-class Darcy family, based on the book by Ruth Park. The main characters are young sister Dolour, ambitious and strong-willed, sweet-natured older sister Roie, nagging but kind-hearted mother, and charismatic but weak-minded father Hughie.

It's fairly 'slice of life' - several little stories - with a few ongoing themes, like Roie's variable experiences with love, younger sister Dolour's ambitions, father Hughie's ongoing reliance on the bottle and tension with his mother-in-law who comes to live with the family...

This is such an excellent series. I enjoyed it so much. It's not glamourised, it's realistic but very entertaining. There's lots of great humour. All the characters seem like real people. And it made me cry in several places. Harp in the South has a sequel, Poor Man's Orange, which I would also definitely recommend. If you enjoyed, say, Anne of Green Gables, you'd like this movie, I think, though this isn't as sentimental as Anne. Girls might like it a little better than guys, though I wouldn't call it a girly show at all. It did start a little slowly - when I first started watching it I wasn't that interested. But then when I sat and watched it properly I couldn't stop. One episode would end and I'd think "well... just one more and *then* I'll go to bed".

In a society where the family is truly taking a beating. This is a movie to help rethink our values. The thought that what ever happens the family can stay together and support one another runs throught out the film. It's not always the way we want it but it is truly for the best. What a good movie.