"Bum rap" is right-- while this movie does indeed have its flaws (duh-- most do)-- it was considerably better than the Hollywood establishment allowed. In fact, it was unseemly the way those folks sought the movie out for criticism. They chased it, practically, for derision! I became a fan accidentally, innocently. I had a few friends who worked as extras in the filming, and it was filmed on location, mostly, in my home town area in Eastern Washington. Thus, I schlepped my bod over to the theater on Christmas day to see it. I was away at school, and lonesome. I felt cut-off from friends and family-- blah blah blah. Thus I sat in the dark searching the screen for my friends, feeling a bit of "old home" vibe returning as a I saw scene after scene take place in recognized locales. This is what the movie was about-- the re-connecting that takes place after a time of separation. The theme of the movie was about finding the courage it takes to crawl out of our shells, to deny the relative safety of living withdrawn and contracted. It was all about community, and the personal risks and steps necessary to reconnect and reestablish our communities. It was about the virtual death that living without community is, and the inexorable force of human nature and life itself that propels us to-- eventually-- do whatever it takes to reach back out again and find our interpersonal and social relationships. Well, my little episode of homesickness, and the reaffirming activity I was engaged in while trying to find old friends in old familiar places on screen drew me instantly into what I believe was the underlying purpose of the book, and the movie. I was stunned, awe struck, gratified, and immensely happy and comforted by the movie. Only later I was shocked to discover how much the media folks hated it, and how indifferent the movie going public seemed to be to it. A year+ later I saw the movie again, and some of the emotional impact for me had faded. I could see that the evil general and the Holnist Army thing was a bit overdrawn-- but the essential sweetness and power of the core message was intact. As humans, when we live cut off from our fellow folks, we're as good as dead; it is only through exercising and feeding our relationships that we can be human, happy, and alive. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and get Kevin Costner to cut the "army of 8" stuff WAY back. I'd also get him to NOT direct the thing-- focus on the townspeople and their "coming out" relationships and experiences a touch more. And I'd make sure he cut the length down to 135 mins or so. I'd also stick in a reference or three to the "postman" theme-- have some person or other comment on the corny nature, perhaps, of having a postman save the word-- making a knowing joke about it within the story might then have the effect of inoculating the audience against their own cynicism. To paraphrase David Denby of "The New Yorker," it seems as if Hollywood is punishing Costner for making them feel things they didn't want to feel. Over all, I gave it a 9.
Review of The Postman
