The Height of the Sky

President Clinton's cousin, Lyn Clinton, "draws on an old Clinton family story passed on by her grandmother, a tale of events kept in silence...'' according to the video jacket. Opening on a dusty southern farm in 1935, the story begins with tuberculosis striking a young sharecropper who is then ordered to enter a sanitarium. The boy's father instead hides his son away at a remote location, leaving his daughter (the film's main protagonist) and other sons to run the farm. Meanwhile, the sudden appearance of the landowner's brother-in-law threatens to reveal a dark family secret (!). Clinton's directorial debut is technically competent, but a tad too earnest and overly deliberate, with the actors performing their roles instead of infusing them with real drama. Although not a bad effort, Clinton's film would be unlikely to get much notice if not for its inherent biographical interest. Strictly for diehard curiosity seekers; otherwise, not a necessary purchase. (T. Rich)