Far and Away (1997, VHS)

America, the land of the free, the land of prosperity. America was the dream of every pauper, every men who s willing to work but cannot survive where they are. What we re looking at in this film is the poverty that Joseph Donnelly faced (played by Tom Cruise). At the start of the show, we see Joseph s father die twice, and he came back because he wanted to tell his son how Joseph had weird ideas in his head, very much like his old man. The setting at the beginning of the film, by the way, is in Ireland, the land of religion differences and alcohol.

Joseph was keen on owning his own land and the landlord s son-in-law to-be came by and burnt his houses. With displeasure, he set off to find the landlord, with the desire to shoot off the guy s head. When he arrived at his place of destination, he saw Shannon Christie (played by Nicole Kidman) and oh, obviously they would fall in love! She being the daughter of the landlord, and having to be prim and proper all the time, but we detect dissatisfaction on her side, and her obvious distaste for her fiance. We see her curiosity about Joseph, and we see her terming herself as modern . When she wanted to run away to America in search of her dreams, and because she had this leaflet that told her that they can get land for free at Oklahoma, she asked Joseph to go along with her.

Once they reached America, Joseph showed his skill at boxing and the area leader was very much impressed. They found residence at a whorehouse, much to Shannon s displeasure. Joseph made his bucks that way, and they both worked at the factory as well. Of course things were not exactly turning out the way Shannon expected them to be, but at least we see her shedding some of that Irish haughtiness! Although they told everybody that they are siblings, anybody can see that their arguments are based on repressed likings for each other. But things did not go too well when Joseph lost a major match against an Italian. They were kicked out of their lodging and nobody in the area was to hire them. Shannon got shot in the shoulder when they intruded upon private property. By this time, The Christies have made it to America and were living in a fine house. Joseph brought her there, and he left without her knowing.

What happened to Joseph next? We see him working at the mines and on the train he was on, there was a stopover at Oklahoma and thinking about what his father said, about how every men must have his own land to have respect, he hopped off the train and headed for the land office, where they had to compete to obtain the land they want. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the Christies got there too. What they had to do was to get on horses with a flag in hand and to tag the land as theirs upon reaching a piece of land that was unclaimed yet. The Christies had already found a land to call their own and Joseph got to that piece of land first instead of Shannon s fiance. There was a struggle, however, because Joseph failed to plug in his flag and that knocked Joseph over, and he died, in Shannon s arms. But wait! He, like his dad, came back to live again, and he said (rather cheesy huh) that he won t die again this time. Oh what a happy ending.

This story, though untrue, tells of the hardship of the late 19th century, and we see the dreams that people had, to find a land of betterness and prosperity, and the will power to achieve their goals. We all have a little something to learn from them.