The Land

3.5/4

Starring: Herman Johansen, Kathleen Warfel, Davis DeRock

Not Rated (probable PG-13 for Disturbing Images and Some Sexuality)

"The Land" derives its power from its simplicity.  Free from traditional filmmaking conventions, it instead goes for stark realism.  Nothing is played for effect.  There is no color to the proceedings or any artifice to make it "cinematic."  It simply looks.

John Martin (Johansen) is a farmer in an unspecified part of America's heartland.  He has lived on and worked the land that his family has maintained for the past four generations.  But now that is coming to an end.  His wife Mary Lou (Warfel) is as devastated as he is, but she is content to look to the future.  John, however, cannot.  For them, the ties that bind them to the land are more than just their way of life.  It is part of who they are.  Without it, who are they?  What will they do?

What makes this film such an unforgettable experience is that it is completely grounded.  The way the characters talk, act and behave is 100% realistic.  There's no sense that this is made to be a movie.  Although it's filmed with traditional filmmaking techniques (no one will mistake this for Dogma 95), it has the power and intimacy of a home movie (that's a compliment, by the way).  I felt like I was there, watching two completely normal people, not "characters."

The movie wouldn't be as effective as it is without the dead-on performances by Herman Johansen and Kathleen Warfel.  They create characters that feel lived in and precisely defined.  We don't know much about them, but that's irrelevant.  What must ring true, and does, is their relationships with each other and the crisis that lies before them.  Herman Johansen in particular is incredible, portraying his character with a mixture of indignant fury and overwhelming grief.  John is a proud man (too proud, in fact), and the loss of his farm is almost too much to bear.  Kathleen Warfel is also effective as his loving and optimistic wife.  She can let go in ways that he cannot.  Both of them deserve Oscar nominations that they will not get.

Co-writer/director Stephen Wallace Pruitt opts for a simple and unsophisticated approach to this material.  There isn't a large variety in shot selection and the camera hardly ever moves.  I liked that aspect of it.  The lack of any sort of flashiness or "style" adds to the film's realism.  Clearly budget considerations had something to do with this, but only a strong, confident filmmaker would be able to use that to his advantage.  What surprised me is just how good the film looks.  Each frame is carefully composed for realism and to be pleasing the eye.  There are some landscapes that are truly breathtaking.  Even if the story was boring (which it isn't), it would be worth sitting through just to look at it.  More importantly, it gives us a sense of the John and Mary Lou's life that they are being forced to leave behind and their love of their land.  The visuals enhance the narrative in a way that a more traditional "filmmaker" might not have been able to achieve.

The film is so specific in its approach, and the performances are so powerful, and its presentation so on-target that I quickly forgot I was watching a movie.  The tragedy for John and Mary Lou is as emotionally wrenching as any movie I have seen in years.  There is a conversation that John has with his local pastor (Laura Kirk) that brought me to the verge of tears.  Similarly, there is a sequence shortly thereafter I won't spoil that filled me with terror and dread.  Not least because I had no idea how the film was going to turn out.

A movie doesn't have to have a mega budget and big stars to be effective.  In the right hands, it can be an asset.  A movie like this doesn't need that kind of weight.  "The Land" has nothing like that holding it down, and it is one of the year's best films.