Product Details

• Actors: Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, Richard Farnsworth, Roberts Blossom, Clifford David
• Directors: Daniel Petrie
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300182541
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,303 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Released at a time when psychic auras, near-death experiences, and Kirlian photography were all the rage among early New Age proponents, Resurrection achieves a spiritual depth rarely found in Hollywood movies. In one of her finest performances, Ellen Burstyn stars as Edna McCauley, a transplanted farm girl who develops healing powers following an accident that left her widowed and paralyzed. Returning to her Kansas homeland, she attracts awe and controversy, performing healings while deflecting any pretense of religion. That's a risky position in the Bible belt, and even Edna's new beau Cal (Sam Shepard) responds with zealous incredulity, fearing what he can't understand while others embrace Edna with unquestioning faith. Through it all, Edna remains calmly resolute as the conduit of an extraordinary gift.

Sensitively written by Lewis John Carlino (The Great Santini), Resurrection tenuously mixes spiritual significance with John Ford's homespun tradition, but for the most part it works: Burstyn superbly conveys Edna's heartfelt determination, and both she and stage veteran Eva LeGallienne (in a rare and final film performance, as Edna's grandma) deservedly earned Oscar nominations. The movie dares to suggest that miracles reside within everyone, and that pure grace will manifest itself in unexpected ways. To that end, Richard Farnsworth is warm and wise in a brief but perfect role; Burstyn's final scene with Roberts Blossom (as her disapproving father) is a heartbreaker; and the film ends with an act of compassion that brings the story full circle as an affirmation of life's greatest mysteries. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

158 of 161 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolute Must Purchase, November 19, 2000

By A Customer

This woman has a near-death experience and finds she has power to heal. The use of the power without calling it the Holy Spirit gets her is to all manner of trouble. The movie really shows the difference between religion and spirtiuality. After you finish watching the movie, get back on line and buy a copy of An Encounter With A Prophet and you will get more insight into the difference between religion and spirtuality.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally! A Jewel is Resurrected!, April 11, 2000

By	Karen Cookson (Sharon Springs, NY USA) - See all my reviews

If you haven't seen this beautifully-crafted movie, run to get a copy. It is intimate, well-paced, utterly charming and full of small miracles of acting. Nominated for two Academy Awards (Ellyn Burstyn for Best Actress, Eva LaGallienne for Best Supporting-Actress, in her final film, so don't miss her!), it is an emotional trip into the big questions of life and death and what comes after that? Look for Madeline Sherwood and Richard Farnsworth as luminous actors in brief parts (there are no small parts. . .)who join Sam Shepard and the totally believable cast of real people. This movie can be watched over and over,and you grow with it,like a favorite book can be revisited and re-understood as you see things with different eyes in your own growing up. At last, with its reissue, we can see and share it again and again. Highly recommended!

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death is not necessarily the end of life..., November 26, 2004

By	Kali "bengaligirl" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This was on SKY movies only the other day, I had seen it when it first came out in the early 1980s and you'd expect it to be somewhat dated, but even after over 20 years since it was made, this movie still manages to pack a wallop.

The very under-rated Ellen Burstyn plays Edna McCauley a young woman tragically widowed in a car accident that leaves her in a wheelchair.

In her grief she returns home to the family farm, to her wonderfully warm and loving Grandmother and her cold and distant father who has never been able to tell his only daughter he loves her.

Edna isn't aware of it in the beginning but having a near death experience in the accident that left her a widow she now has healing powers which she uses, first on a child who has horrific nose bleeds, and then on herself so that she can walk again.

But Edna is aware her gift is special, her Grandmother, worldly and quietly religious tells her Granddaughter to her gift for the good of others which Edna does, but there are people who are jealous of what she can do, especially a self proclaimed Preacher by the name of Earl.

His son Cal, a very young Sam Shepherd becomes Edna's lover but he becomes afraid of her gift, his fear is born out of his harsh zealot upbringing at the hands of a man who believes that the bible is the be all and end all and that Edna is not doing God's work but the work of the Devil.

Resurrection could have fallen flat on its face as the subject matter it is dealing with is complex and controversial but the Director, the late Daniel Petrie manages to make it both satisfying and uplifting without ever heading for the sentimental avenue which films like this can often end up.

The end scene is wonderful, with Edna quietly living out her life running a gas station on a lonely route, surrounded by animals, enjoying her solitude but occasionally gifting to other her healing skills, but in such a way they never know.

An absolute gem of a film.