The Farmer's Wife

I'll be perfectly honest. I wasn't altogether thrilled over the thought of interrupting my Legend of Zelda game to watch a six and a half hour documentary on a Nebraska farm couple. I'd seen and enjoyed Richard Pearce's 1984 feature film Country (a mere 109 minutes), thank you very much, and knew the basic recipe. Start with one loving, hardworking pair. Gradually mix in some bad weather, poor harvests and unfeeling bureaucratic government agencies. Stir until economic setbacks make the daily lives of the farmer and his wife thick with anger and resentment. Set on boil...and stand back. And don't get me wrong, that's exactly what happens in David Sutherland's epic tale of the trials, failures and triumphs of Juanita and Darrel Buschkoetter, but no amount of shorthand plot summary can possibly capture or in any way substitute for the experience of watching this exceptional documentary from PBS's Frontline series.Culled from 200 hours filmed over a three year period, The Farmer's Wife begins with a relationship that's already shifting as Juanita Buschkoetter assumes more and more of the financial aspects of running the Buschkoetter farm (and takes day jobs cleaning houses) while her husband Darrel "pushes steel" in a plant, helps out on his Dad's farm (which he hopes to take over some day) and spends the after dinner hours--often till midnight or later--finally tending his own fields, cattle, and hogs. When an early frost nips the Buschkoetter's dreams for a strong bumper crop squarely in the bank statement bud, the couple is forced to attempt an FMHA loan restructuring and make the rounds asking for extensions from creditors.How the Buschkoetter's juggle the ever-revolving ball of bills, constantly failing equipment, Juanita's college coursework, pressure from outside family members, raising three young girls and trying to mend a marriage that's drowning in a sea of uncertainty produced by unremitting stress is not only powerful drama, but also inspirational viewing. Much of the credit goes to David Sutherland's mostly unobtrusive filming. All of the Buschkoetter's are wearing individual mikes (no cords) as they go about wrestling calves, making cakes, or crunching numbers with loan officers. In the immediacy of hard physical labor or sudden rain (and these people key into weather reports like armchair investors watch the stock ticker on their computers), one suspects that the microphones are probably not uppermost in their minds. Now, I say that Sutherland's style is "mostly" unobtrusive, because you cannot overlook the often stunning cinematography in The Farmer's Wife: whether shooting the interior of the Buschkoetter house or capturing a gigantic orange-red sunset, the video image is never less than pristine and often absolutely luminescent.If you remove the environmental trappings of Juanita and Darrel's story, you'll uncover a narrative structure that is quite familiar: the can-do physical and spiritual pursuit of the American Dream. Most of us can easily relate to that, and the harder-working among us well understand Darrel's self-deprecating remark "be a shame if I sat down for five minutes, idn't?" It would be a greater shame if you chose not to sit down for this admittedly long but beautifully filmed and deeply involving slice of Americana. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)