The unveiling of pioneer life as it was

HEARTLAND (1979)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Siskel and Ebert first featured this exquisite Western on their "Buried Treasure" section of their movie review program. Unfortunately, despite winning the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival, few have heard of or spoken of this film since. A shame because "Heartland" is the definitive film on the perils and hardships of frontier life in the early 20th century, detailing every aspect in documentary fashion.

Conchata Ferrell is Elinore, the newly employed housekeeper for the Scottish farmer, Clyde Stewart (Rip Torn), the owner of a Wyoming ranch in Burnt Fork. Elinore has her slightly bratty daughter (Megan Folsom) in tow, who is more of a helping hand on this ranch than anything else. There are plenty of cattle, pigs, horses and chickens to attend to in this vast wilderness. There is so much land that Elinore takes an interest in buying her own piece of it, an unclaimed tract of land adjacent to Clyde's, though she is reminded by Clyde that she can't afford it. Winters are brutal, for one, and there is not much she can do to make ends meet without livestock or credit. Clyde's trusty hired hand is Jack (Barry Primus), though he is ready to call it quits when the money gets tight in Clyde's farm. If Clyde has trouble, what can Elinore expect when she is expected to live in this newly acquired land for ten years?

Elinore decides that the best thing to do is marry Clyde. Their marriage is not depicted as rocky or flawed, only merely put to the test with the harsh winters, their daughter's minor frostbite, and Elinore's pregnancy. And without Clyde's hired hand, times are getting tougher and tougher.

"Heartland" is not sentimental or nostalgic about a bygone era - it suffuses the era with a harsh light, not an incandescent glow. The movie doesn't shy away from the realities and difficulties of pioneer life. Whether it is a cow giving birth, the cattle dying from the cold weather or a wandering horse that hopes to get fed, in addition to Elinore giving birth to a baby that has convulsions, every detail is given 100% authenticity. It also helps that actors Rip Torn and Conchata Ferrell lend this film immediacy, urgency and a sense of heartbreak. There are no cliches to be found here, and most of the film (astoundingly directed by Richard Pearce) is muted and restrained with little to no dialogue for long passages of time. One scene in particular is cliche-free and unexpected. Elinore is scrubbing the wooden floors while her daughter balances a book on her head. The daughter is walking on the unscrubbed floor section and she nearly and purposely steps on the scrubbed section. She knows her mother will notice it and scream at her, and the daughter decides not to step on it. A jaw-dropping moment in a film filled with them.

"Heartland" is based on the diaries of the real-life Elinore Pruitt Stewart later published in the book "Letters of a Woman Homesteader." The film itself is not likely to appeal to anyone besides those with a vested interest in the old American West, but it would be a shame to miss it since films like this barely exist now, let alone back in 1979 (Only the 1981 Canadian production of "Silence of the North" with Ellen Burstyn comes to mind). I would say if you like westerns stripped of cliches and stereotypes and like to see the hardships of a different way of life, then check out the engrossing "Heartland." It is an American masterpiece.