difficult choices

No, this has nothing to do with the recent election, so if you're looking for political pontification, keep walking.

I may, or may not, espouse on that topic once all results have been tabulated and the voting officials have released the names of the winners in all races.

You didn't think just a President was being elected, did you?

If you're a news addict, then you just might have thought that very thing.

Please seek help.

 

My post concerns two recent movies, one seen some few weeks ago, the other tonight. 

Neither movie had a hero to root for, someone fighting evil and triumphing.

Of course, that may just be my perspective, but let me plead my case.

The first movie was "Unhinged".

That one featured Russell Crowe as a man recently divorced, unemployed, and homeless, taking medication that did not seem to help his mental state.

During the night, he had killed his ex and her lover, finalizing the deed by burning down the house.

A few hours later, it's morning and he's in a trance at a traffic light.

A woman, taking her son to school, gets stuck behind him.

She's going through a divorce and her ex is not cooperating, plus she is one of those people who are perpetually late, a habit that adds to her stress.

At this point, she is not only going to get her son to school tardy and have him go to detention, but she is also standing up a friend who has agreed to to help her navigate through divorce court.

Frustrated by the hand dealt by life and how she has played it, she now finds herself behind a stopped truck at a light changing from yellow to red.

She blasts the car horn and swerves to the right to pass the truck, then continues, albeit very briefly, to the traffic jam ahead.

The truck catches up, of course.

While both are stopped, the driver gets her son's attention and tries to politely get the mother to apologize for her rudeness.

Not only does she refuse to do so, but she compounds her rudeness with more.

Then it's "game on" between the pair, with the boy caught in the middle of the hostilities and collateral damage as others get killed.

Honestly, the boy was the only one worth cheering, as he tried, unsuccessfully, to get his mom to do the right thing and not be a bully to a stranger.

At least this one had a moral:

Be kind to everyone because you do not know the sadness in their world.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intended message, but that's certainly what I took away from that movie.

As for tonight's movie, watched with Carolyn, I couldn't root for either side.

Both had matriarchs who expected everyone in the family to obey them...

and both were blindly obeyed, as to do otherwise brought unwanted attention.

I had very much looked forward to "Let Him Go", as it starred one of my favorite pairs of actors, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, made dear to me as Superman's "parents" here on Earth.

I knew they were grandparents in this one, so that was cool.

I knew the movie had been filmed in Montana, so I expected to see grand vistas and so had chosen to see it in BigD.

Very good choice, as the cinematographer clearly loved that lonely land of mountains and desert.

The movie opens with the couple's son dying while riding a horse (shades of Christopher Reeve), leaving them to help raise his infant son.

Then the widow remarries... 

eventually moving away...

and that's when the grandmother's obsession begins.

Sure, she had seen the new husband strike the woman and the boy, but instead of bringing it to anyone's attention, she allowed the thought to fester in her mind.

When the new husband had suddenly moved the family away, the grandmother became determined to go in search of them and to return home with the grandson.

Period.

Grandpa knew how she was, knew that once she set her mind to something nothing could dissuade her.

He goes along with her, hoping for the best, expecting an altercation, surprised to find she'd packed a gun, but still hopeful for a peaceful venture, reminding her that they "are not young" and the child in question is only three years old.

As a retired lawman, he realizes too late that they are in over their heads...

but he stays by her side, as he loves her in spite of her faults.

So, when did he suspect they were in trouble?

When all their inquiries concerning the stepdad of their grandson were met by folks cautioning them to take care in their dealings.

And when did he know for a fact they were in trouble?

When they find out the stepson had been summoned to return by his mother, a woman who had kept her sons close to hand all their lives and was upset that he had run off.

She was also upset that he had married without her approval and now had a step-child in tow.

She reminded me of my first husband's mother, a woman who had not approved of me and had not even come to the wedding, not even meeting me until after our second anniversary - yet, she expected us to live near her in Gresham, Oregon, and give her grandchildren "with the Schiller name".

That had been petty scary and had certainly contributed to the failure of that marriage.

So, we have ultra-controlling matriarchs on both sides, one using passive aggression and the other forthright aggression, and neither willing to bend.

And Grandpa, even after having his right hand chopped by a hatchet, knew his life would be hell if they did not complete their quest, knew the only way to return home was to get his wife what she wanted.

Kevin Costner was excellent, as always, clearly portraying this man trapped between doing the right thing and doing what would bring peace to his woman.

That's because she was still set on her path, even though her actions had led to his being maimed.

If this one has a moral, it may be something like:

Take care that your choices do not cause harm to others.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that wasn't the intended message, but that's the one I'm going to believe.