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A Death in the Family
Movie Review Producer/director Gil Cates'
film adaptation of James Agee's novel A Death in the Family
is a tender portrayal of a family's struggle to cope with the untimely death of a loved one. Set in 1915 Knoxville Tennessee, amidst an idyllic background, the opening scenes depict the Follet family, headed by Jay Follet, as a hopeful, expectant and content family embracing the twentieth century with all of its possibilities. Jay Follet, father, husband, brother and businessman captivate the audience. We see him playfully teach his son to steer a car, water the lush green front lawn, cradle his pregnant wife and share a movie and walk home with his son. These scenes have the effect of creating within the audience a sense of longing, a kind of bucolic nostalgia.
We are reminded of a time when the country was young and innocent. Unfortunately, youth and innocence must give way to maturity and experience when Jay Follet meets a sudden and violent death.
Aunt Hanna, a family relative, seeking to console Mary, Jay's widow, offers the most poignant statement in the movie-- "Death can not be prepared for, only lived through." This ironic reality, that death is
not so much an antithesis to life but rather one major facet of life, is what the Follet family and the entire human family must come to terms with. The Film A Death in the Family
does an excellent job of giving us all hope for coping with the inevitability of death. —Angela Miller, teacher, New York. |
