Wish You Well 2013

     This book is based on a novel written by David Baldacci and published in 2000.  Amanda Cardinal’s husband Jack was killed in a car accident after a ceremony to give him an award for his writing.  He had been drinking before the crash at the party.  Amanda received a bump on her head but she has not mentally recovered from the accident.  Amanda and her daughter Lou and son Oz move from New York to a farm in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia.  They are going to live with Jack’s mother, Louisa Mae Cardinal.  Lou also wants to be a writer like her father and she begins gathering material from her experiences in her new life.  She starts off getting in fights with a boy at school.  She makes friends with another boy, Diamond Skinner.  A coal company is buying up as much land as they can in the area but Louisa Mae Cardinal will never sell.  The land takes care of her and she takes care of the land.  Cotton Longfellow is a local lawyer, he comes to read books to Amanda and help Louisa fight off the coal company.

     This movie is good, enjoyable and interesting.  The countryside is beautiful but some of the people are trapped in very harsh living conditions.  One of the men treats his family terribly and also Louisa and her family.  Louisa doesn’t mind getting out her gun if she needs to in order to show him she means business.  She won’t tolerate his bullying, meanness and prejudices.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

100 min, Drama directed by Darnell Martin with Ellen Burstyn, Mackenzie Foy, Josh Lucas, Ned Bellamy, JP Vanderloo, Alano Miller, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Antonio Ducrot, Laura Fraser, Dave Hager, Josh Murray.

Note:  Imdb 6.3 out of 10, 40% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 75 reviews.

Special Note:  Ellen Burstyn was born in 1932 and she was 81 years old when she made this film.  She was recently in the Age of Adaline as Flemming, Adaline's daughter that looks like her grandmother.