Change Your Image
hms_jellybean
Reviews
Pioneer Quest: A Year in the Real West (2000)
Enjoyable, but not authentic
This was filmed right around the same time as a show with a similar premise in the US, and I was curious as to how the two would compare as well as whether there were any differences in pioneer life in Canada versus the US. That said, this review isn't a comparison of the two, but just observations on this one.
The interactions and overall grit of the two couples, both together and separately, are really nice to watch. Both are committed to sticking it out for the full year, they're fairly upbeat even when things get hard, and even when the two couples have disagreements, they still work together cooperatively and treat each other with respect. The show does not thrive on the drama between the couples or on the relationship issues (of which there aren't many) within the couples. However, the premise of two stranger couples homesteading together seems weird...was that a thing in Canada in the 1870's?
However, the show lacks authenticity. The couples are "roughing it" in the fact that they live in the middle of nowhere without modern conveniences, but they receive regular supplies every two weeks from the film crew, including comforts (like snow boots) that may or may not have been available for real pioneers. It undercuts the idea of having to survive on their wits and their skills when there's no real stakes to be had. They're also working with the latest, up-to-date technology for the 1870's, including the "latest" in plows, tillers, wood stoves, shovels, etc, which seems unlikely for a homesteader in rural Manitoba. They also regularly trade work for supplies with neighbors and the neighbors do the bulk of the work at times around the homestead just to gain experience of what it was like back then; while working with neighbors would be authentic, having droves of them come over to do work is not. This is given lipservice in the series, but is never addressed to the point where it would be close to period authentic.
And then there's the treatment of the animals, which is...problematic. I'm not sure whether the homesteaders weren't trained enough or what, but it's concerning. It rains for the first several weeks after the couples arrive, and a shelter is not built for any of the animals until much later. The chickens are kept in their cage for weeks, and the horses and cow are left to hang out in standing water. The emphasis is put on the growing season, and the couples dedicate several days to things like plowing and planting before even thinking about building shelters for their animals. While complaining the chickens won't lay. They build smudge fires to get rid of the bugs but don't bother to make sure they're put out properly in dry weather, which causes the barn to catch fire and their pregnant sow to die a horrific death. The horses are kept in a simple lean-to in deep snow and temperatures that drop to -45 degrees F, which the homesteaders are told by locals is "fine." Yet the horses begin to drop weight from the energy it takes to stay warm coupled with the lack of nutrition in their feed; nobody notices until the horses' ribs are showing, all the while using them to pull a sleigh that took four men to move. The horses were eventually treated and recovered, but the lack of concern for their wellbeing is appalling.
All in all, a fairly enjoyable watch. If you like shows like this for their authenticity, this is not the show for you. If you watched the American series and didn't like the drama, you'll like this one.
Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story (2000)
Major disappointment
The "Anne" series has been my favorite book series since I was about 12 years old. My younger sister had the series but wasn't interested, so I stole it and read all eight books in a week. The same books, now haggard and dog-eared, sit on my bookshelf and get read at least once a year. The characters are lovable and realistic, the plot always well-defined, with bouts of humor and seriousness. The first two Kevin Sullivan "Anne" films captured the books quite well, especially the characters of Anne and Gilbert. After watching the movies, every time I read the first three books, I see Megan Follows as Anne and Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert.
But "Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story" leaves a bitter taste my mouth. Basically, Kevin Sullivan abused and maimed one of the most beloved book series of all time. The movie moves the timeline of the entire series forward almost 40 years, making Avonlea and its inhabitants in the previous movies seem backwards and primitive. Which makes sense, since those movies are set in the 1870's, while this is set in in the 1910's. Green Gables is in ruins due to it being rented after Marilla's death, Anne and Gilbert are still unmarried though Gilbert is finished with medical school, Fred and Diana share a rather passionless marriage, Diana has turned into a society wife obsessed with wealth, and both Fred and Gilbert seem in a rush to escape PEI for the warfront.
As any book fan can tell you, pretty much everything about this movie is wrong, right down to the characterization. Diana and Fred were in love in the books, which never comes across in the movies. Anne and Gilbert were eager to be married; the three-year engagement and separation was hard on both of them and they married almost as soon as Gil walked out of Redmond. Neither could bear moving away from PEI; Anne could barely stand to move 60 miles away from Avonlea. Though both characters mellow with age, they are as they always have been: Anne is still opinionated, dreamy, and fiery. Gilbert is stable, steady, with both a realistic and humorous outlook on life. They complement each other, which is the beauty of their relationship. By the time World War I rolled around in canon, Anne and Gilbert are proud parents of six children, ranging in age from 14 to 21. They were quite against their three sons joining the war, and are heart-broken when all of them end up joining, anyway. In the movies, both Anne and Gilbert come across as flat shadows of their former selves. Probably the most glaring error is in Gilbert: he never would have joined the war and left Anne behind. He waited 10 years for her, for crying out loud!
There really was a wasted opportunity here. "Anne's House of Dreams" was a big book of character development for our favorite couple. Anne and Gilbert must cope with the gritty realism of adulthood outside their haven of Avonlea. Gilbert is a poor country doctor, he and Anne must now navigate their first five or so years of marriage, being in a completely new town and new house, how to make new friends, and establish their new lives. They experience the giddy rush of being newlyweds, the quirkiness of their new neighbors (who are "kindred spirits"), and the loss of their first child in childbirth, which sobers Anne and terrifies Gilbert, for as a doctor he was not able to save his daughter and almost lost his wife. They suffer the death of a good friend juxtaposed against the joyous birth of their second child. By the end, they move to a larger home and are much more mature than the Anne and Gilbert we knew at the beginning.
That said, if it were not connected to the "Anne" series, I think it would be a fairly good movie on its own. Using different actors with different names and backstories, this could be turned into quite the romantic flick. But since it is connected to a much loved book series and completely deviated from canon in every way possible, it brings it down a lot.