Nebraska

I have become something of a fan of Alexander Payne, who directed this slightly eccentric slice of Midwestern life.  While there is at least one of this movies that I did not like ("Sideways", for those keeping score), even that film had a lot of great substance to it.  His last three films ("About Schmidt", "The Descendants", and "Nebraska") have all had significant things to say regarding parental relationships, particularly with fathers.  All three of them also dwell in the shadow of death.  In "About Schmidt" and "The Descendants", the principle character is a widower dealing with the death of his wife.  Here, death plays a more subtle role, but it is no less present as the main characters in the film are living their lives knowing that time is growing short.

Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is a Korean War Vet who has lived a blue collar life tainted by alcoholism.  The beginning of the film depicts scenes which make clear that he is beginning to lose his faculties.  Woody becomes convinced that he has won $1 million in a publisher's sweepstakes, and is continuing to try to make the trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to claim his prize.  The problem is that Woody lives in Billings, Montana, which is hundreds of miles from Lincoln.  After many failed attempts at thwarting his dad, Woody's son David (Will Forte, who makes a nice transition here away from comedy) finally agrees to humor his old man and drive him to Lincoln.  On the way to Lincoln, they end up stopping for a visit in Hawthorne, Nebraska, the town where Woody grew up.  Much of Woody's family is still there, as well as old friends and business partners.  The residents of Hawthorne come to believe that Woody has actually won the money, and many of Woody's family and friends begin to scheme ways to get a piece of his supposed wealth.

The premise of the movie is a simple one.  The movie ends up being a study of its characters.  It is mostly a study of David, and his journey to not only discover more about his father, but also about the dynamics of his whole family.  For example, at first, Woody's wife comes across as nagging and abrasive.  While David's and our journey don't totally change her personality, her behavior begins to make more sense as we see not only Woody's alcoholism, but also how he has been treated by the people in his past.  In the end, it is clear that even though theirs isn't a marriage of bliss, the partnership does have deep loyalties and history that is only seen better as the complexities of Woody's life become more clear.  As David makes the journey with his father, he ends up having to come to grips with some of his own frustrations with his father, but he also learns to appreciate his father more.  There is a famous line from the book (and the movie) "To Kill a Mockingbird" wherein the protagonist, Atticus Finch, tells her daughter that no one can really judge anyone else until they get inside their skin and walk around in it.  As David looks at life more through his father's eyes, there only seems to be a sense of appreciation mixed with regret.  His father was distant and fallible, but David does seem to have some kind of appreciation for him.  As Woody's entire nuclear family (which becomes complete when David's news anchor brother Ross shows up in Hawthorne) comes together, the bond that is between them (however distant and different they are as people) is felt palpably by the viewer. 

The choice to shoot the film in black and white works on many levels.  The starkness of the landscape creates a reflective picture of the lives of the people in the story.  The Midwest is a part of the country that has a character and culture all its own, and the black and white photography bring out the feel of that classic American culture that is found in the Midwest.  Finally, the particular lives of the people in the film have stark realities that black and white help bring out.  Part of the reality of Woody's life is that his time is growing short, and there is a lot of regret not only to his own life, but his family clearly have regrets as well.  Payne's last three movies have all dealt with uncomfortable family dynamics, and that conflict is skillfully executed.  They remind us of our common humanity and common struggles, but also of some of the comforts we find in family.