American Pastoral 2016

     This film is based on a novel by Philip Roth that won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.  Seymour Levov had the nickname Swede in the Jewish community of Newark, New Jersey.  He was a star high school athlete and he married Dawn.  She was a beauty pageant winner and they have a daughter Merry.  Swede took over managing the glove factory his father founded.  Merry had problems with stuttering and the psychiatrist they consulted said she was doing this to make a place for herself  in the family.  Merry felt she couldn’t compete with her beautiful and talented parents.  Merry is a beautiful and smart daughter but she becomes involved in protesting the Vietnam War in 1968.  The war ran from 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975.  There were riots in their area near the factory with people killed and property destroyed.  Swede and Dawn become very concerned about Merry, especially her language and rebelliousness.

     While watching this film, I thought about children and how their parents raise them?  How much difference does the style of parenting make in their lives and what elements should be stressed in children?  How much blame can be placed on parents for a child moving forward in the wrong direction?  How much is due to the free will of the child as they mature?  These are difficult questions with different answers and possibilities depending on the expert or the individual.  I really felt for Seymour and Dawn in this film.  I felt for the lives and families touched by Merry.  This time period was a very difficult one for the United States both politically and for people living in this country.  You can see there are many sides to the information presented in this film!!  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

108 min, Crime directed by Ewan McGregor with Jennifer Connelly, Dakoa Fanning, Ewan McGregor, Peter Riegert, Rupert Evans, Uzo Aduba, Molly Parker, Valorie Curry, Hannah Nordberg, Julia Silverman, Mark Hildreth.

Note:  Imdb 6.1 out of 10, 22% critic 29% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 1 ½*, Amazon 3.2* out of 5* with 165 reviews, ReelViews 2 ½* out of 4*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Pittsburgh, Harmony, Wilkinsburg, Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania.  Originally development began in 2004 with Phillip Noyce as director, Paul Bettany as Swede, Jennifer Connelly as Dawn and Evan Rachel Wood as Merry.  After ten years, all the actors moved on except Connelly.  McGregor didn’t have very much input into the script or the casting plus many of the preproduction details.  He stepped in at the last minute as director.