The Homesman (2014)

Wonderful character development!

Great Film overall

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Such a disappointent. Film makers cannot make good westerns anymore and this is a lazy, illogical, depressing, low budget effort, and in an attempt to make itself realistic succeeds in being almost totally unrealistic. Even the horrible Bone Tomahawk was better and that DVD was literally thrown out of my house. Don't bother.There is a much better detailed and accurate review of this rubbish elsewhere.

'The Homesman' is a Western that depart from standard plotting; indeed, its title at first appears strange, as the eponymous "homesman" appears to be only a secondary character. While I generally like films that move in unexpected directions, however, it's hard to sympathise with the homesman as a central character. One must also wonder if Hilary Swank, a perfectly attractive woman by any normal standards, gets tired of playing "irredemably unfeminine" in Hollywood, while Meryl Streep has a strange cameo in a role so uninteresting it seems wholly bizarre she was cast in it. The film certainly doesn't romanticise life on the range; the contrast between wild Nebraska and civilised Iowa may, however, be overdone, and its presentation of mental illness is really rather primitive. Ultimately, Swank's character is the only one with depth, and the movie loses its focus once it turns away from her.

This is a short comment to warn of a very disturbing scene in the first 15 minutes of this movie. It's a scene that'll stay with me for the next few days at least, I suspect and one I'll always think of if the subject of this film ever comes up going forward. If you can get past this, however, there is an otherwise decent, if mostly bleak, movie to be found. I say mostly because there are also some uplifting messages here if you look for them. Personally, I'm glad I watched it, but it certainly won't be for everyone. I marked these comments as a spoiler to be safe, although I've deliberately tried to write them so as not to give too much away.

The Homesman is an odd movie that probably most accurately conveys the stress and fatigue of frontier life. Swank's character is charged with the care of three insane women and enlists the help of a ne'er-do-well to help her herd them back east. She adeptly conveys the outward strength of her character with the inward draining loneliness and insecurities that women faced out there alone. Jones's character contrasted that with the spitfire of life and his surviving all of the hell that the West puts anyone through with a mocking smile. The two make a well matched, albeit unlikely pair. They seem to compliment each other even as they fail to understand just what makes the other one tick. Swank is righteous and God fearing; a hard working and extremely likable woman who battles her loneliness as best she can. Trying desperately to see the bright side of things. Jones is surly and apathetic. Not caring a wit about anyone but himself and forcing himself to look the other way rather than view the demons this woman has on her shoulders.It has its high points and its low points but it keeps you intrigued for its slow duration. Swank looks at home in this costume piece and Jones knows how to handle the story, even if the ending leaves you feeling slightly bereft and more than a little bewildered. 6.8/10