I previously taped and saw this movie twice on Friday. First with my friend Jim, then the second time with my wife when she got home from work. I saw it some more on Sunday to get more details for this review. It takes place in a small town in North Carolina in the last year of World War II and stars Joanne Whalley as Ruby Miller, Sean Patrick Flanery as Tom Walker, Cotter Smith as Silas Green, and Alexa Vega as twelve-year-old Opal 'Pug' Miller.
In the beginning, Ruby Miller's daughter Pug finds a stranger injured on the side of one of the dirt roads that border their farm. Pug reports back to Ruby what she saw and Ruby comes out and asks the stranger what happened. He says he was going through a farm orchard and got bitten by a dog on the leg so badly that he can hardly move. Ruby has him lean on her and walks him back to her farm. She surmises that it happened in Silas Green's orchard and one of his dogs had bitten the stranger.
Ruby and Pug are on the farm porch, while the kindly, portly, old doctor is examining the stranger in Pug's bedroom. Ruby is ironing clothes, while Pug is sitting in the porch swing reading a book. Pug keeps adjusting her glasses and starts complaining to Ruby how a boy that she likes at school calls her "Pug the bug," because of her glasses. Ruby says to her that her father, Frank, wanted his girls to be named after gemstones. So Ruby is named after the red ruby and Pug's first name is Opal, named after the gemstone that is "pure white like fresh snow on the outside and fiery red on the inside."
"Anyway, you'll be Pug the bat, if you don't wear those glasses," says Ruby.
Opal says, "Yes, ma'am".
The doctor comes out onto the porch and explains that it would be better not to move the stranger-patient for tonight. Ruby agrees that he should spend the night there and move on in the morning. Opal says that the West is about to break through the Siegfried Line in Germany and eventually meet the Russians, who are coming in from the East. The doctor says the war will be over soon.
Ruby says, "I expect we'll be hearing from Frank soon!" Frank is her husband, who is in the military, serving overseas.
Later in the day, Silas Green pulls up to Ruby's house with three big dogs in the back of his truck and a bag of pecans as a gift to Ruby. Ruby refuses to turn the hurt man--Tom over to Silas, who wanted to move him into his house so he could guard him closely. Ruby sees the true nature of the situation and wants to protect Tom from Silas.
That night, Ruby says to Opal in her bed, "Did you say your prayers?"
Opal: "I said God bless Mom and Dad and the hurt man in my bedroom."
The next morning, after talking to the stranger, Opal says to Ruby, "His name is Tom, and he's not a 'rummy'" (a drunkard). Tom and Ruby shake hands and Ruby says that her husband is in the Pacific theater of World War II and has been reported missing in action. So it is not known for sure whether her husband is alive or dead. Ruby gives Tom some of her husband's clothes to take with him and says good-bye.
Later that day, Tom is picked up and brought to town by the Sheriff, who thinks that Tom stole the clothes that he is carrying with him. Ruby comes into the Sheriff's office to verify the ownership of the clothes and, on the spur of the moment, decides to tell the Sheriff that Tom is employed on her farm and is under her supervision. The Sheriff grudgingly lets Tom go. Ruby decides that, now, she wants to starting farming again with Tom as her main employee. But they understand that when the farming season is over, Tom will have to leave.
Tom's story is told throughout the movie as bits and pieces of it are revealed. Ruby wants him to attend Church with her and her daughter every week, while he works for her. They sing a nice hymn in the Church service. After the service, the members gather in the parking lot outside the church. A military messenger drives in and delivers a death notice to an older couple. Their son has died in one of the battles of World War II. The wife cries and the husband suffers and tries to comfort her.
A younger boy taunts Tom about his not serving in the military, but Tom refrains from punching him. It appears this is a good decision of Tom's--choosing non-violence.
A newspaper headline says that Japan is out of the war. Now World War II is completely over and relatives and husbands in the military will be coming back to this small town in North Carolina. They are celebrating with a square dance. At the end of the dance, people are starting to get their things together and leave. Silas Green catches Ruby alone on the gymnasium dance floor and tries to kiss her. She fights him off, just as Tom walks in.
Silas says to Tom, "We have a private word!"
Tom says, "Seems to me, she's done talking!"
After Silas insults both Tom and Ruby, Tom throws one hard punch at Silas and knocks him to the dance floor. Tom is much younger and more athletic than Silas, even though Silas is a big man. Surprisingly, Silas lies there and does not try to strike back. Tom leaves the dance hall for a short time, while Silas tries to explain his lonely home situation to Ruby. Ruby understands him and tells him, "You were just not the one!" Silas says good-bye to Ruby and they remain farming friends, but nothing closer than that.
Tom comes back in the dance hall and implies to Ruby that he is angry at himself for letting his desire to strike Silas get too strong. Ruby thinks it was right to hit Silas and tries to get Tom to be less hard on himself.
I'm going to stop here. I studied Ethics and Existentialism to help with this review. Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia:
Existentialism is the philosophical and cultural movement that holds that the starting point of philosophical thinking must be the individual and the experiences of the individual. Alternatively, it is defined as the philosophical theory which holds that neither moral thinking (governed by the norms of the good and the right) nor scientific thinking (governed by the norm of truth) suffices to understand the human condition, and that a further set of categories, governed by the norm of authenticity, is necessary to grasp human existence (authenticity, in this context, is the degree to which one is true to one's own personality, spirit, or character).
Existentialism began in the mid-19th century as a reaction against then-dominant systematic philosophies, with Søren Kierkegaard generally considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. Opposed to Hegelianism and Kantianism, he posited that it is the individual who is solely responsible for giving meaning to life and for living life passionately and sincerely, even in view of its many existential obstacles and distractions.
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