This is not an easy film to watch. Life on the frontier is hard enough in the best of times and with people who behave with a measure of compassion toward each other. When the husband you thought would rescue you from a bleak life in an orphanage turns out to be a sadistic brute, and his brother is a sensitive dreamer,
then the outcome is more or less obvious. However, the acting by Caroline Dhavernas as the young wife, Annie, and her fearlessness in a difficult role rescued this from melodramatic drivel. The scenery was bleak, the rest of the cast proved competent, with only the affectations of some pretty lame accents to spoil the atmosphere. There is brutality, but for the most part we hear it rather than see it. There is tenderness as well, and when Annie smiles, the room lightens.
July 20, 2010
