This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
1917 Vintage
Plot Overview
Nursery rhyme investigator Katherine
Thomas in her Foreword quotes Henry Betts in the Intro to his Nursery Rhymes and
Tales (Methuen & Co., Ltd., London, 1924): “They are to be
found all over Europe and they have analogies among uncivilized
peoples all over the world. It appeared, also, that many of them
are of incredible antiquity, bearing unmistakable traces of origin
in prehistoric times.” The movie “The Indian”
follows the archetype:
Hush-a-bye, Baby, on the tree-top, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock; When the tree shakes, the cradle will fall, Down will come Baby, cradle, and all.
“Some happy wit has, in these four lines, crystallized the long and exciting history of James Stuart, the Pretender, whom the National History of England, as taught at the present time in all the schools of that country, claims was placed in a warming-pan at his birth, and so smuggled into the bed of Mary d'Este, the royal consort of James II.
“‘On the tree top’ facetiously depicts the exalted cradle of the royal palace wherein the ‘rocking’ first began. … ‘When the wind blows, the cradle will rock’ [was] carried out to the letter, since never winds that blew were more adverse to any royal baby. Surely never did the bough bend with more persistent relentlessness than when, with a nationwide crashing, down came ‘Baby, and cradle, and all.’
“James II [was] in a fury over the refusal of his subjects to acknowledge the child his lawful heir—” (Thomas 288)
“In Douce Adds., 36(3) Bodleian Library, Nursery Chap- Book, there runs the significant comment upon this jingle, ‘This may serve as a warning to the proud and ambitious, who climb so high they generally fall at last’.” (Thomas 289)
“The Indian” opens with
a big-shot film producer Skip Gaines (Sal Landi) being
chauffeured in a limo, summarily breaking up with a broad by
phone, giving her short shrift after their animal-like tryst. He
has an underage blonde (Elaine Yang) on his right with whom he
is canoodling, as well with a cute brunette minor on his left. The
dirty old man collapses in his seat.
Dr. Reed will give him the bad news that he's
got advanced hepatitis C. It's terminal. His only hope is a
partial liver transplant from a blood relative as he cannot
buy his way to the top of the long waiting lists. He is shown
looking at a snapshot of a boy. From his castle in the
Hollywood Hills, he is seen next in front of a shelf of booze
bottles lined up like soldiers. He phones his sister Carrie (Jane
Higginson) in Scotts Valley, Calif.
Not trusting him, she won't take his call out of the blue. She
figures he wants something.
Lacking any other option he pays a
surprise visit, by chance as they're engaged in a small Christmas
Eve gathering. We see two stockings hanging from the hearth, one
for Carrie & one for Carrie's seventeen-year-old nephew Danny
(Matt Dallas.) Danny is Skip's son whom he hasn't seen for fifteen
years. Carrie will negotiate with Skip to watch over Danny
(“Let them work it out”) while she a nurse goes on a
San Francisco rotation. In the rhyme's terms this nascent nurturing
by the big man is, “Hush-a-bye, Baby, on the tree-top.”
“When the wind blows, the
cradle will rock” represents the kid's wind of resentment
rocking the boat. He glares at his dad over the breakfast table and
won't eat the hot meal he prepared. He pours himself some cold cereal
and misses the bowl. Ultimately, he overturns the table.
“When the tree shakes,
the cradle will fall.” There goes Christmas. Due to Skip's
“extreme negligence” in raising his son (“My life
blows”), the kid's “got no interest in anybody or
anything. He has not had the benefit of joint parental care
and supervision. Did Mr. Gaines remain with him to teach
him right from wrong and to instill in him the proper values, to
guide him into responsible adulthood as a father should? No.
Mr. Gaines abandoned his son's care to his sister who tried to
be both mother and father to him. Danny has in fact suffered from
Mr. Gaines's abject disregard for his own son's
welfare.” As a result “all comes down.” Danny
gets thrown out of a party on his ear, not having any friends
there. He drives away his two cousins. He breaks a store window and
faces arrest. He flops on his bed and throws down the ringing alarm
clock. He throws away some of the Christmas guests' food from off their
plate. He throws down the breakfast table. He tosses a piece of veggie
pizza against the wall. And instead of helping his dad restore a vintage
Indian Co. motorcycle, he trashes the
shed. The boy is a walking wrecking ball.
Skip sets
about to restore his dead dad's 1917 Indian motorcycle
(“Anything can be restored”), which will require
professional help. He hires the hog shop owner's daughter Shelby
(Alison Haislip) who's of a same age as Danny and there's a spark
between them. Due to Danny's social ineptness, however, he
needs and accepts help from his dad, and they all three work on the
restoration together. Father and son plan a fishing trip. Danny
does pencil sketches of Shel.
Ideology
Due to the short time remaining for the principal, the relative youth of the couple, and the PG-13 requirement not to “get ahead of schedule,” the movie will end before the romance is fully developed. Nevertheless, what there is of it is anticipated by the same biblical formula as longer ones. (Prov. 30:18-19) “There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.”
“The way of an eagle in the air” is unpredictable. The bird floats on invisible air currents and swoops on hidden prey. There is a rather long shot of a hawk up in the sky just drifting around. This romance thing is very much up in the air, but a lot of young love is that way.
“The way of a serpent upon a rock” is a wily course. Here we see a suspense-filled patient moving a toy sports car back and forth on the doctor's table as he delivers his verdict. There is a certain amount of back and forth with the young couple.
“The way of a ship in the midst of the sea” plays off wind, current, and tides. Here the water vessel is a bedpan after which is named Bedpan Bob (Joe Komarinski.) One of his jobs at the hospital is to empty them. At an evening meal the sentiment is expressed that it's hoped he washed his hands. We don't want contaminations from the past. Shelby's mother ran off with another man. Shel says, “Just because my Mom's a slut doesn't mean I am.”
“And the way of a man with a maid.” This is never easy.
Production Values
“” (2007) was written and directed by James R. Gorrie. It stars Matt Dallas, Sal Landi, Alison Haislip and Jane Higginson. The acting was all up to par and the dialogue was smooth. The doctor and the judge were to be taken seriously.
MPA rated it PG–13 for some thematic elements. The movie is all that, as specified on the back of my DVD case, but there was some technical difficulty in the physical product—not in the movie—causing it to show a rating of R on the screen, and once it jumped to X. However, I did not get an eyeful.
The
cinematography was good enough to make me sit up and take notice.
Inside shots, however, taken next to an open window or door
were washed out in those adjacent areas. The southern California
orchards & shelved sunflowers were gorgeous. The
concurrent bird song was a nice touch even though they kept at
it late into the day. Inside acoustics had a hollow, echoey sound.
There was one overly loud rock music injection.
The script was well written with good character development. The pace was country sedate. It was an indie film worth an award. Runtime is 1½ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This was a good tale as a warning not to forsake one's children, but with a feel-good ending. Christmas was there but not hyped. Doctors and nurses were shown as hard working. Drinking and drugs had consequences.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three and a half stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev, 1769. Software.
Thomas, Katherine. The Real Personages of Mother Goose. Copyright, 1930, by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Copyright in Great Britain, the British Dominions and Possessions. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org