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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful movie that stands the test of time., January 8, 2002
I originally saw this movie in 1974 when it first came out. I was twelve years old at the time and loved the book and this is one of those rare movies that does justice to the book on which it's based. All of the characters were wonderful and multidimensional but the young woman who played Mary Call really shone. She brought just the right gritty determination and yet uncertainty and fear to the character. Harry Dean Stanton was wonderful in the important role of Kaiser Pease. The story is about four children in Appalachia who are left orphaned and the second born, Mary Call is given instructions by her father to keep her siblings together and to not let her dreamy older sister Devola marry Kaiser Pease. Mary Call's efforts to fulfill her father's wishes are touching and funny. The movie looks deeply into grief and growing up and most of all it shows that people have different dimensions to them, that they are not always what they seem and that there comes a time when a person must use his or her own judgment. A great movie that has stood the test of time well.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Promise Kept, February 28, 2002
Mary Call Luther is living happily with her father and three siblings in the remote Smoky Mountains of North Carolina when her idyllic childhood ends abruptly. When her father dies, she emerges as head of the household and must be even more responsible than her older sister Devola.
Her determination to keep the family together is a real inspiration when you consider how tragic the story could have been if her family was separated by the welfare system.
Mary Call is determined to fulfill her father's wishes and finds ways to keep the family together, no matter what. Together they learn to gather and prepare medicinal herbs. While they are "wildcrafting" they also have to attend school and keep the death of their father a secret so the family can stay together.
The beauty of this story is in the heart of the main character who shows wisdom beyond her years. She also has an unusual ability with words and writes in her journal.
"Through it all, I've led a double life. Wildcrafting by day, writing in my journal at night. I don't know what I would do without my journal. For there's no one else to whom I can pour out what is in my heart. There's so many things I long for. Soap that smells of flowers. A dress that's not a hand me down. I know these are not important things, but I long for them." -Mary Call, Journal Entry
While the story is quite serious in many ways, you actually will laugh out loud at some rather unique lines here and there. I liked the part where one of the neighbors tells his wife he married her for her ability to make a great chocolate cake. You will also laugh when Mary Call says she wishes she had the sense of a rabbit and then she would run off into the mountains and away from the responsibilities of life. There is a scene where they all take off in Kaiser Pease's car that is hilarious.
Mary Call also has a way of getting what she wants from Kaiser Pease, who is totally in love with Devola. They also learn that Kaiser is not quite as bad as they thought he was and that perhaps her father was wrong about him. This brought out the aspect of learning to see a person's heart and not just an outward appearance.
A movie that slowly works its way into your heart.
Beautiful in Spirit.
~The Rebecca Review
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow!!!, January 22, 2003
By A Customer
Ok, this movie is probably my overall favorite of anything I've ever seen. I get tired of other movies after 3 or 4 watchings, but I have been watching this movie repeatedly, and pretty much consistently, for about five years. I love this movie, and get sucked into the plot each time I see it, even though I know the script backward and forward, and could see everything in full color with my eyes closed. This movie is heart-wrenching but wonderful. Four orphans deal with the death of their sweet father, trying to keep his death a secret. The fourteen year old girl is left to be head of the family, and has promised to keep her older sister, Devola, from marrying Kiser Pease, the families arch-enemy. In this story, Mary Call (and the viewer) learns a lot about life, and she also learns that just because someone is wrong about something doesn't mean you can't go on loving them.
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