Astonishing Magical Movie About Myth and Redemption

Rating: Null/10 (23 January 2002)

I've seen the movie several times, in the theater and on television, and have read the book on which it is based. (Malamud's book is wonderful but a quite different affair - dark, more expressly magical, mysterious, pessimistic).
The movie is majestically sentimental and mythic - about the most sunny of boyhood dreams and the crashing of those dreams through sin, about resilience and patience, being stalwart in the face of snares, and the possibility of redemption. The whole movie has such a Biblical tone - man's original sin (through woman?), the casting out from the Garden of Eden, the years of seeking salvation, the years in the wilderness, the limitation on man's perfection due to original sin.
The 1930s/40s atmosphere is perfection. The acting of Glenn Close and Robert Redford is just so wonderful. The whole of this movie is fabulous - a grand fable, powerfully moving.
From sets to music, from costume to lighting, from editing to sound, the movie is captivating.
I may have seen all of Redford's movies - this is his best. It is also so American that if you were to see this overseas, you would be homesick.