Human characters, Zelwegger's accent

Rating: 10/10 (18 May 2004)

This contains a few spoilers of relatively minor plot points. The thing that struck me most about this remarkable film was its intense humanity. It's been several months since I've seen it, but I recall vividly the power of being sucked into these characters' physical and emotional hardships. It was the kind of power that had me asking myself "could I love that strongly, or obsessively?" "Would I be able to stand battle that ferocious?" I could lie with Natalie Portman's Sarah and feel her anguish and loneliness. I could kneel in the dirt with Nicole Kidman's Ada and feel her helplessness. I could imagine the terror with Sally Swanger as her sons and husband were murdered before her eyes. In short, the actors were so adept at portraying the characters that I could imagine being any one of them, which made the film highly affective, indeed.
By the way, one other commenter said that Renee Zelwegger is a Brit and, considering this, did a fine job with her accent. Actually, she is from Texas and I was happy that she had a chance to return to her southern roots (although the accent was greatly exaggerated for her character Ruby) after portraying the British Bridget Jones a couple times.