Saturday, April 11, 2009
HARD TIMES
Today's film was
an independent production about two women who come together under desperate circumstances and find friendship through their experiences together.
The film hinges on the performances of the two women which is deeply honest and unsentimental.
The river in question is in the middle of a small patch on the US-Canadian Border which is a Mohawk Reservation on both sides. Apparently immune from immigration laws. Just a bare inch of legality.
The women find their way to smuggling immigrants across. They are on thin ice figuratively and in literally.
There are kids involved, who we see. An errant, disappeared husband, who we don't. The kids are very good too. They could have thrown things off track but they do not.
The camera work is handheld and everything is natural. No studios were involved in making this picture. Everything works together.
I am not sure that it is the best film to see while you are grieving a loss of your own but I got through it and did like it even though it was painful to watch these women work with such meager resources. Their inner power is extraordinary. They are heroic. And quite believable.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. In better times it might have gotten a 4.
