Country

Jessica Lange produced and starred in this 1984 rural drama centered on the plight of American farms in the 1980s, as food prices dropped, farmers floundered in debt, and the FHA foreclosed on family farms all over the country. Lange plays Jewell Ivy, a wife and mother who runs an Iowa farm that has been in her family for generations along with her husband Gil (Sam Shepard), father Otis (Wilford Brimley), and teenage son Carlisle (Levi L. Knebel). At the government’s urging, they took out loans to expand their family spread, but years of falling grain prices have left them financially farther behind, and when a tornado destroys much of their corn crop (and almost kills one of them in the dramatic opening scene), their loan is abruptly called in, which leaves the family no viable options. Jewell is the one who not only holds things together but also organizes the resistance to the foreclosure while Gil retreats into drink as he sees everything slip away. Director Richard Pearce (Heartland) displays his gift for capturing the realism of rural settings and people facing difficult circumstances in this provocative drama that wears its themes on its sleeve and mythologizes family farming but also gives voice to the anxieties of rural America during an era of transformation into agribusiness. Extras include audio commentary by film historian Lee Gambin. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)