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Victorious Raiders parade trophy through downtown Ashland ... State police search for pursuit suspect near Hyatt Lake ... Do you think vaccinations should be mandatory? ... Victorious Raiders parade trophy through downtown Ashland ... State police search for pursuit suspect near Hyatt Lake ... MOVIE REVIEW 'Homesman' plays grit and despair perfectly Comment By Chris Honoré for Revels DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted Dec. 18, 2014 @ 12:01 am By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted Dec. 18, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Social News The Homesman 122 min Rated R “The Homesman” is Tommy Lee Jones’ second directorial effort, the first being “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” a small film that slipped beneath the radar but was nevertheless surprisingly good. Lee, as an actor, does cantankerous to perfection, and there’s always the sense that in his roles, which are very consistent in manner and affect, Jones is simply being Jones. He’s just older, his face now deeply lined, saddle blankets beneath his eyes, and he’s a whole lot crankier. So it’s not a surprise that Lee would adapt a 1988 novel by Glendon Swarthout (“Bless the Beast and the Children”) that examines an oft-neglected aspect of our iconic national mythology: the west of the 1800s. “The Homesman” opens with expansive shots of Nebraska, the vast, treeless plains stretching in all directions. The colors are those of closely cropped wheat, almost sepia in tone, the flatness unbroken, the silence, except for the whisper of wind through the gold-brown stubble, unbroken. For decades, writers and filmmakers have romanticized what were then referred to as “the territories,” those yet to be named places where pilgrims arrived and then hunkered down, facing terrible odds. Single men often came and once settled went east to find wives, returning to their sod huts and crude structures, most built into hillsides, places so stark and inhospitable as to defy the imagination. And the women arrived to live lives of profound and unexpected isolation. Many were completely unprepared for what awaited them, most plucked from towns and cities, only to face circumstances that would bear down on them to the point of breaking. And that’s the essence of “The Homesman.” It focuses on three women who have gone mad, catatonic, really, and retreated so far into themselves as to be unreachable, lost to family and husband. And those who lived in the remotest of towns decided the only thing to do, before they killed themselves or their children (some did), was to return them to Iowa and later send them back to their families of origin. A solid, plain, lonely woman, Mary Bee Cuddy (Hillary Swank), who has a place of her own but no husband, volunteers to travel east by wagon (a jailhouse wagon, as it turns out) with the women. The journey will take weeks, but a reverend and his wife await them and will contact their families. Just before leaving, Mary Bee encounters George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), about to be hanged, strikes a bargain with him, and while the noose is still around his neck, exacts a promise that he will help her in her promised task. Of course, he agrees. And thus begins what proves to be a harrowing trip: The three women are out of their minds, Briggs is undependable, and Mary Bee, the only reliable character, holds the four of them together. And it’s from her point of view that the tale is told. The western, and its panoply of characters, holds a special spot in American lore and legend. It has been romanticized and mythologized and idealized in literature and in film — the cowboy, that lone, flawed, yet heroic figure accompanied by women of true grit. But this is a Tommy Lee Jones movie, and though it is a slog at times, it is still, in its own way, courageous for it focuses on an aspect of the West that represents the dark side of the moon. For many arriving from parts in the East, the West was an abyss, a place where life was reduced to survival, both physical and psychological, and the stark isolation an unbroken shroud. For many, it was more than they could bear. It drove many, men and women, to the brink of despair. And that despair is the theme of “The Homesman.” For many filmgoers, the subject and how it’s revealed may be unappealing. But at the same time, it is brutally honest in its depiction. Lee also injects a surprising twist regarding Mary Bee, one that changes the trajectory of the story entirely to include its conclusion. “The Homesman” is, in essence, an eccentric and against-the-grain western film. But if you are a fan of the genre, you may find it thought-provoking and difficult to forget.   By Chris Honoré for Revels DailyTidings.com By Chris Honoré for Revels Posted Dec. 18, 2014 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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