Brilliantly Over-blown Propaganda...

Rating: 3/10 (15 August 2010)

What a masterpiece--beautiful film, beautiful acting, incredible characters, strong setting, interesting story...
And ridiculous. A pure piece of political bully-pulpit pounding shame.
When you whittle away the bare bones from the withered flesh of a story, you find a simple message: BIG GOVERNMENT GOOD, STATES & LOCALS BAD. The way they portrayed it was crazy obvious. What I don't understand is why people sympathize with a double murderer, though motivated to such actions. It is a slanted logic that dictated men's lives as worthless where local justice is involved....in America. Never seen a message so ridiculous in film, the opposite being the truth--abuse and lack of justice within centralized government (just read the news).
The question in the beginning of "who is to blame" for taking the farms points to the evil bankers, the evil overlords all up the ladder of capitalism, as if the owners had no rights to their own land, and their own financial mismanagement wasn't the fault of the grassroots- decision-maker. But, never mind that: details get in the way of a good leftist message. By the end it portrays a world that will never change and the people who try will just wither and blow away for the sake of cigar smoking, besuited fellows in brand new cars with extensive peach orchards and businesses.
When I moved to California in the early 90s I met a lot of the old transplants who moved to CA in that time of need. They did pretty well for themselves. Ultimately, a displacement creates need and need is sated by people creating work and making things, people finding their place in the world. Maturity to understand how the world changes and corrects itself is what the story lacks completely. But, it wasn't a film made to reinforce the nature of the world, just to stir up some wrath.