Places in the Heart: A Quick Review

"Places in the Heart," written and directed by Robert Benton, was released in 1984.  It stars an incredibly talented cast led by the always wonderful, Sally Field, who won an Oscar for her role as Edna Spalding.  Some other cast members include Danny Glover, John Malkovich, and Ed Harris.

"Places in the Heart," takes place in Texas during the Great Depression.  Edna Spalding's husband is killed early on it in the film. She has to sell cotton to help support her two young children and try and make enough money to make the payments on her house.  Helping her with this is Moses (Danny Glover), a man who randomly shows up at her house one day wanting to do odd jobs and who gives her the idea for selling the cotton.  Then we have John Malkovich playing a blind man, who moves in with the Spaldings.  I'm kind of tired of explaining the plot so we will leave it at that.  

Sally Field is incredible in the lead role and definitely earned that Oscar.  First of all she cries, yet again in a movie.  When Sally Field cries the average movie-goer should be moved.  She also is bursting with emotions throughout this movie.  She has to deal with the loss of her husband and is determined to make enough money to keep her house and her kids.  Sally Field is always convincing in her movies, and this is no exception.  She does not overact, except in "Soapdish," or other movies that actually require massive amounts of overacting.  I don't really feel like commenting on the rest of the cast, mainly because I'm getting tired and no one else won an Oscar.  However, each actor plays an interesting, developed character adding to the drama of the film, and to the irregular family that is eventually formed.

The cinematography is beautiful, so I will throw that in here since it's one of my favorite aspects of a movie...and extremely necessary.  Overall there is nothing too innovative about it and everything is done simply but effectively.  Given the dramatic nature of "Places in the Heart," anything more would have been completely inappropriate.  We get a lot of beautiful outdoor shots, filmed on location in Texas.  This greatly added to the film, perfectly depicting the setting and time in history. Also, there is one impressively executed scene involving a tornado, that looks extremely realistic and everyone should be quite proud of it.  

Basically, if you love Sally Field like I do, or any member of this cast you will enjoy it.  It's a beautiful film, visually and otherwise, about survival and deals with some racial issues of the time as well.  It is a little bit slow, since that's the nature of the plot/genre.  It does not get boring though because of the compelling story and characters.  If I were you I would watch it, but then again I love classic movies and a certain lady who once played a flying nun on TV. 

3 1/2 out of 4 stars, even though technically this is a "Quick Review".

-Joseph Sbrilli