This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Country Girl With a Gift
Plot Overview
A “little tramp” in a
“little town” in the recently desegregated South has an
affair with a rodeo cowboy who's passing through. She's poor white
trash living in the colored section and can't afford a hospital
when she falls pregnant. She has the baby at home attended by a
neighborly negress “Aunt” Ella (Jackie Welch.) Another
attendant covers the now dead mother's face. Heaven gives the baby
a strong set of pipes, and pubescent Bobbie (Kaitlyn Dorff) sings
up a storm in the soul church choir. At the age of twenty she
leaves town to seek her fortune in Memphis.
Bobbie Thomas (Katrina Elam) spends her first night there
sleeping on a church pew, but in the morning a solicitous black
deacon offers to watch her stuff for her during the day. She gets
hired to wait tables at Morita's Sushi House and there gets
discovered so fast her head spins. Unfortunately, her quick record
deal comes at the expense of violating the three rules of heaven:
- Never lie.
- Always be fair.
- Never break a promise.
The audience can pretty much forgive her her petty infractions, as authoress Sarita Mandanna puts it in her novel: “In this life, if one is not strong, people will trample you underfoot. One has to fight for happiness. For one's dues” (246). However, since heaven is involved, she loses her gifted voice and has to make amends if she is to ever recover it.
Ideology
Though much maligned, country music here serves to convey some valuable life lessons. It's similar to the saying, (Prov. 30:24) “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise.” The unassuming role models in this picture could hold their own with the best.
(Prov. 30:25) “The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.” It's recommended that one start work early, in the summer of life. Bobbie “started working with my Aunt Ella at Jake's Diner about the day I started walking. … I basically learned the whole restaurant business by the time I was eight-years old” and then worked “twelve years at Jake's Diner.” (“When I got out of school, I started working full time.”) The proprietor of the sushi house called Bobbie a “very good worker,” this from day one. Also she was “singing my whole life.”
(Prov. 30:26) “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.” Location is ever so important, to the conies and to people. Bobbie pulled up roots and moved to greener pastures saying, “I can't believe I lasted as long as I did in this stupid little town” where she was “waiting tables, done it my whole life.” In Nashville, though, every one is a musician.
(Prov. 30:27) “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands.” It's most important to have an informal support network to provide opportunities and watch one's back. Young Bobbie had Ella who still provides emotional support, offers sage advice, and extends a welcome to her if she wants to come home. Bobbie had a boyfriend into cars who could provide transportation. In the big city there was the deacon to watch her stuff and her coworkers who jammed with her in their amateur band where she was discovered.
(Prov.
30:28) “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is
in kings' palaces.” A palace is a place that gets cleaned
& swept regularly, so that spider has to take initiative and
weave new webs whenever that happens. When Bobbie's gifted
voice faltered, she was ousted from any big league singing career
but could take up a new one with a different voice.
Production Values
“” (2010) was directed by Christopher Cain. It was written by brothers Dean Cain and Christopher Cain. It stars Katherine Elam, Jackie Welch, and Travis Fimmel. Putting in an appearance were Michael McKean, Cheech Marin, Bronson Pinchot, and Dean Cain. Their performances were adequate, and Welch excelled as Ella. Elam has a great singing voice here applied to country music.
MPA rated it PG for some language and thematic material. It
was well edited and well paced. Country music can take getting used
to but it's mostly compatible with Christianity & patriotism.
The scenes were shot altogether too tight and could have been
improved with some vistas in place of endless highways. The deacon
portrayed himself as “one of God's workers,” and
we can pick out others here and there, even some angels. The
barn-burner at the end had faces only a mother could love. Runtime
is 1 hour 52 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
There's ethical material aplenty to offer parental guidance on. Christianity is understated (shots of churches) but important in the lives of the characters. I liked the music, but I'd had to develop a taste for it when I worked for a country radio station. This would be a good movie for families to watch.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for children: Suitable for children with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: A few suspenseful moments. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Mandanna, Sarita. Tiger Hills. Copyright © 2011 by Sarita Mandanna. New York: Grand Central PublishingTM, First edition: March 2011. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org