Sunday, May 14, 2017
134 - God's Country, 1985, United States. Dir. Louis Malle.
1979
Louis Malle takes his cameras and microphone to Glencoe, Minnesota.
Apparently he was commissioned by PBS to document an American subject and initially set out to create a documentary about shopping malls.
But he gave that up and looked for another topic.
He was driving the roads of rural Minnesota when he saw a woman tilling her garden.
Miss Fitzhau tills her garden. She is 84.
She wears a bonnet that stretches to cover both her face and her neck.
She has no family but has one boarder. Otto Walters lives upstairs. He rooms with her.
She likes gardening better than going out and gossiping.
She is open and warm and friendly.
Louis Malle takes to her. He understands her. He appreciates her.
When he drives away he tells us that it has been awhile since he was able to travel with a camera and meet people. It feels good to be at it again.
He is grateful to Miss Fitzau for speaking to him.
Between her and the County Fair, he has decided to stay in Glencoe.
He takes up residence in the Star Hotel.
This will be his subject matter for awhile.
This will be his home.
He is "making friends."
Louis Malle goes to the county fair. People dance. They are of German origin. They have brought over their music and dancing.
A man swings a mallet three times. The onlookers heads bob up and down with the ball. He rings the bell on his third try. He celebrates.
We meet Rod Petticort at the fair. He is drinking and enjoying himself. He tells us he is the assistant chief of police.
Members of the Foreign Legion talk about their war experiences.
The Lions Club runs the BINGO game.
There are nine churches in town. Seven Catholic, two Protestant.
Louis Malle visits one of them. One of the Catholic ones.
The sanctuary is large and spacious. The choir sings and the organist plays from the back of the sanctuary, behind the backs of the congregation. The camera pans around as they sing:
". . . Perfect in power, in love, and purity. / Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty / All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. . . . "
He interviews the pastor. He calls him open-minded and warm. The pastor talks about how things are in the community and how the generations respond to change.
Louis Malle seems genuinely to love the people.
He is amazed by their lawnmowing.
He shows lots of people mowing. It looks all very normal to us. But not to him.
Apparently it is not such a thing in Paris.
He calls it "a vestige of the pioneering spirit."
The girls' softball team. Glencoe versus The Valkyries of Hamburg, Minnesota.
Glencoe wins. It is their second win of the season. They are ecstatic. They are going to the Pizza Ranch to celebrate.
We go to the Dairy Queen. He interviews the owner. It is a family business. Run by him, his wife, and three of their children. He says it is a good living.
We go to the drugstore. It is run by Mr. Barnum, Sr., Mrs. Barnum, and Mr. Barnum, Jr.
We meet Rod Petticort again. This time he is on duty. He is dressed in uniform, driving his squad car. He is all business. He explains that there is little crime here, and they intend to keep it that way.
We meet Brian Fullman, a 10-year old boy who drives an 8-wheeled John Deere tractor, the largest tractor John Deere makes, the tires of which are taller than him. He works on his dad's farm. Driving the tractor is all in a day's work.
We talk to farmers.
The man who grows grain.
The local bank, started by Mr. Clayton Hoese's father in 1935.
Clayton Hoese is a both a banker and a farmer, so "people can't fool us when it comes to agricultural loans."
His son Dale Hoese is a loan officer. He milks cows in the evening.
His eldest son runs his own farm.
His son David takes care of the hogs. Processing the hogs into bacon.
Jim McIntire, 28, and his wife Bev run a mid-sized farm that belonged to his grandfather. His father lives next door, and they are business partners.
Jim drives his tractor. Cultivating corn.
Bev prepares lunch. It means opening tin cans. They do not eat the food they grow. It goes to be processed.
Bev wants to be thought of as a homemaker and a partner with Jim.
Louis Malle loves Jim and Bev. He says, "Jim and Bev's hospitality is so gracious, I feel I have known them my whole life."
They sit down to eat. They pray. "Dear Lord Jesus, be our guest. Let this food to us be blessed."
Bev talks how times are changing.
You find now that young girls are waiting until they are 20, 21, 22 to get married!
Save your money so that you have something.
Malle interviews Arnold and Millie, a lawyer and local playwright.
Their son was arrested for burglarizing a draft office to try to burn the draft cards. They were surprised, because they had raised him to be law-abiding. But they have grown to accept his point of view about the war.
Steve, 31, is the town's most eligible bachelor. He inseminates cows and performs in Millie's plays. We watch him do both!
A young woman pumps gas.
Jean, who works at social security and as a bartender. She speaks openly about her experience living with her boyfriend for three months, breaking up, and then discovering she was pregnant. She gave it up for adoption. Her experience in a small town was difficult. Her interview is heart-felt.
She says, "I'm 26--I'll be 27 this month--so I'm getting up there."
We go to Glenhaven. The nursing home
We see a wedding.
At the Emmanuel Lutheran Church. Tammy and Robert are getting married. Tammy is 17.
The bridesmaids wear pastel little-bo-peep dresses and hats.
They have a banquet at Pla-Mor. He calls it Play Manor.
They go barhopping.
The groomsmen are wearing the bridesmaids' hats. A groomsman tries to buy a beer without ID. He tells the bartender it is for his mother. The bartender does not give him the beer.
Dancing. The polka. The music is hot.
Accordion. Trumpets. Bass guitar. Electric guitar. Drums.
The band members are coordinated. They move together.
They pass the Coffee Cup Café.
August 17, 1985.
Six years later.
Louis Malle is driving down the street. He is nervous to be returning. What will he find?
Miss Fitzhau!
She is still out in her garden. Instead of her bonnet, she is wearing a wig.
She is 91.
The Dairy Queen.
Church of Saint Pius.
Lawnmowing.
Arnold Beneke. The town lawyer.
His wife Millie has written five new plays.
Rod Petticort is now the deputy sheriff of the neighboring county. He has put on weight. He misses Glencoe.
Tammy and Robert are still married. They have two girls and a "spacious six-room trailer." They are watching TV.
Steve is now 37, still inseminating cows. He has put on weight. He is still single. Now he is thinking of getting married at 40.
He inseminates about 7,000 cows a year. He has inseminated about 50- or 60,000 cows in his career.
He plays softball. He is getting older and he does not swing as quickly as he used to.
Louis Malle visits his friends, Jim and Beverly.
Jim has not put on weight. He still looks thin. They sit at the table. Now they have three children.
"Dear Lord Jesus, be our guest. Let this food to us be blessed."
Same prayer.
Bev works at the post office.
Jean has moved to Florida.
Clayton Hoese has died.
Louis Malle interviews farmers. Times are tougher now because the prices have fallen and they do not get as much income for their work.
Some express it in political terms.
Louis Malle listens.
Watching Calcutta and God's Country back to back results in an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
Louis Malle is an empathetic interviewer. He largely lets people speak for themselves, either by watching silently or by letting them talk. He inserts his opinions occasionally, but his films are not overrun or driven by them.
He is kind to Glencoe. Kind to the Midwest. Kind to America.
Despite jabs at Vietnam and race and free enterprise, he seems to care genuinely about the people he interviews.
The people of God's Country are blessed.
The people of God's Country bless God.
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