Little Women

[steven clark]

This is more an American institution then a book, and I groaned at yet another remake, but was interested by criticism...mostly because it was too white. All those white women, white actresses...and NO ONE OF COLOR! Well, VNNers, that's a reason to see the film if for no other.

This version is directed by Greta Gerwig, who did Ladybird, and stars Saoirse Ronan as Jo. You should all know the story by now, even though there are more little men on this site then little women, but it's about the March family in Massachusetts during the Civil War, when father is at the front...or kind of in the rear, being a chaplain. The March girls get by, and the story is heartwarming and fun, as well as offering serious points about family, making do with little, struggling with siblings, and realizing your potential.

Louisa May Alcott used much of her own life when she wrote this book, and the film charms and is a good family, human story. Critics also complain that the scenes are disjointed, not beginning at the very start but going back and forth as Jo tries to make it as a writer in post Civil War NYC, but this doesn't detract, and I enjoyed the new direction. Also, Meryl Streep plays a crusty old aunt, and Tracey Letts has a fun small part as a publisher.

The film is also an example of genteel American life then. People in Massachusetts get to go to Paris, live stable lives, and decorum clashes with desires. Also, it shows in New England, the war didn't bother many people at all, and it was easy to opt out. As someone once remarked, had Emily Dickinson lived in South Carolina instead of Massachusetts, there was no way the war wouldn't had crept into her opaque verse.
Remember too, that although there was a draft, you could hire a substitute, either in the north or south. Imagine how Vietnam might have been if we had that. Note that the young men in the story feel no immediate call to arms.

It's a beautiful film, shot in Fruitlands, the communal farm Bronson Alcott, Louisa's utopian minded father, built. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the film, and it's good WN fare. Only one black face seen here, and it's a woman from somewhere else. It's a good story about white people in our history, and worth watching, and the German professor in it is a good guy. Who could ask for anything more?

[bedford]

It is rare to see a Hollywood film come out that does not have some token
black hero or a jew in a position of power. I don't know about 1917. Is there
some negro soldier in the film who somehow heroically defeats a German
division? i hope not. Little Women seems like it worth watching.