New Releases The World Made Straight
CUSTOMER REVIEW
3 1/2 STARS -- SLOW BURN, BACK WOODS KIND OF TALE CENTERED ON A CIVIL WAR MASSACRE AND MODERN REDEMPTION OF A SORT
Based on an acclaimed novel by Ron Rash, this slowly paced film is not designed so much to entertain as it is to convey a feeling and certain concepts. It employs the Civil War story of the real life Shelton Laurel Massacre in North Carolina (an event also featured in the movie Cold Mountain). In this fictional story "World Made Straight", the community still bears the scars of division over 100 years later and there is also pervasive sense of economic immobility that sets up the premise of the film. Time doesn't always heal and history can present itself again in interesting ways. Sometimes tragedy can act as a force of creative destruction, making springboards to a better life.
THE PLOT (no spoilers): Travis Shelton (Jeremy Irvine, War Horse) is a high school drop out headed down the wrong path. He has lost his job at a local store, and is out fishing and wandering in the woods when he comes across a neighbor's marijuana grove. He steals a plant and takes it to another minor dealer named Leonard (Noah Wyle, Falling Skies) introduced to him by a friend. Leonard sells a little pot now and then, but is a former school teacher who lost his job and family after a false accusation by a disgruntled student. Leonard lives in a trailer with his girlfriend Dena (Minka Kelly, Friday Night Lights) who is a drug addict on her own self destructive path. Fate plays a significant hand with the two outcasts Travis and Leonard, and the teacher soon becomes a mentor and father figure to Travis, who is having troubles with his own family. As Travis renews his studies with the teacher, conflict arises with the local drug dealers when he tries to steal another plant. They also take an interest in Dena as the plot thickens. These events will draw the mild mannered Leonard into yet more problems he didn't create. All through the movie, Leonard reads excerpts from an ancestor's journal that are mundane doctor's entries, yet ultimately reveal secrets of the massacre and a guilt that doesn't seem to heal, even through generations. This bleakish emotional tale does have some rays of light for the viewer, one of which is a beautiful and kind hospital worker (Adelaide Clemens) whom Travis comes to love. (I saw Adelaide in a British series Parade's End a few years ago and she is one of my favorite young actresses). In the end though, there is a world that needs to be made straight. There is more than one reckoning to be made.
The movie deftly conveys the feeling and concepts intended. Despite the modest budget, I would even say the production values are quite good. There may be a few scenes where the acting is only slightly uneven, but overall the performances from each actor are excellent and there are some interesting characters. I like well crafted stories that can also convey a feeling. However, this one slows too far and the mostly necessary narrations from the Civil War journal have the secondary effect of nearly stalling the movie with dryness. It's realistic, it's necessary to construct the premise, but it still has that secondary effect. It's really not just the journals, but the pacing in general. However, that pacing is actually part of the construction of the atmosphere of a 70's Appalachian town, and completely appropriate in a way. Most people looking only for entertainment probably won't enjoy this movie. However, if you find something in this description that sparks an interest, or if you are a fan of the novel, you should at least give it a rent to see if it works for you.