Peace Like A River

Sanford (CA)

Peace Like A River

Crew:
Author of original novel: Leif Enger
Writer: Brian Helgeland
Director: Jonathon Demme

Cast:
Dennis Quaid as Jeremiah Land
Nathan Gamble as Reuben Land
Marlene Lawston as Swede Land
Logan Lerman as Davy Land
Aaron Eckhart as Agent Martin Andreeson

Tagline: "Mircales are fickle things, but don't ever think for a moment that they don't exist."

Synopsis:
When Dad skidded into the delivery room, Dr. Nokes was sitting on the side of the bed, holding my mother's hand. She was wailing--I picture her as an old woman here,although I was never to see her as one--and old Nokes was attempting to ease her grief. Nothing could be done, he was saying, perhaps it was for the best. I was lyinguncovered on a metal table across the room. Dad lifted me gently. I was gray and beginning to cool. A little clay boy. Dr. Nokes told him, "Jeremiah, it has been twelveminutes. There would be brain damage by now." Dad ignored him.

"Breathe. Reuben Land, in the name of the living God I am telling you to breathe."

I now think of my survival as my Dad's first miracle. Of course, I didn't think much on this until eleven years later. You see, one comes to know the meter of his father'swalk. I remember, I was in the outhouse when I heard the familiar cadence. One-two-three-stop. One-two-three-stop. I looked. He was pacing in the bed of his truck, handsover his face, praying. Praying hard for an end to this business with Finch and Basca. Praying for his own safety, maybe, but I'm sure more for Davy's. When those twoboys tried to rape Davy's girlfriend Dolly, when Dad saved her, well, we all knew that wouldn't be the end of it. To call those two the "bullies" of the junior class, '63, wasdoing them an upright honor. And Davy, at sixteen, was rash enough to think the beating they were administered at the hands of my Dad the janitor was not near adequateretribution. Dad was alone in prayer. One-two-three-stop. One-two-three-stop. One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine... My Dad had walked right off the end ofthe bed, and kept right on walking, three feet in the air, as if on God's hand itself. Make of it what you will.

Davy did wind up killing those boys. Maybe it was self defense, maybe it wasn't. (They were in OUR house at the time, after all. One doesn't drop by in the middle of the nightwith a baseball bat to ask for a cup of sugar, this I know.) One way or the other, Davy broke out of jail before anybody could convict him of anything. Swede, my eight-year-oldsister, in all her Wild West romanticism, was delighted beyond measure when we learned that Davy escaped on horseback. Swede, Swede was a regular poet, even at that age.When Dad promptly swept us into the Airstream trailer and carted us westward on nothing but blind faith and my Dad's hunches, she wrote oft of our travels so:

And will we find our Davy safe,
Along this stealthy track?
And might all our implorings steal,
Our outlaw brother back?

Such verse, I recall, made me profoundly uncomfortable. I had never thought of our voyage as a secret, never realized just how disturbing it was that FBI Agent MartinAndreeson seemed all too familiar with our route, how he continued to trail us, show up in unfortunate places across the country to question Dad with growing enmity.I at last understood when we did not fill up on gas in Mandan, for the FBI was parked at every station. Why? Yes, Davy was a wanted murderer who had crossed state lines,but he was only our brother. Swede was thrilled with the Us Against The World romance, but I was not. It sure is one thing to say you're at war with this whole world and stickyour chest out believing it, but when the world shows up with its crushing numbers and its predatory knowledge, it is another thing completely. Those police were lookingfor us, I was sure, Dad was sure, Swede was more than certain. Looking for a green pickup trailing a twenty-foot Airstream home through the tiny town of Mandan. We tiptoedthrough the village like a fat boy through a wolf pack, but each patrolman looked right through us. Make of it what you will.

The journey brought trial fraught with joy. For a practical lifetime we searched for Davy. On naught but the substance of things hoped for we traversed the rugged West. Onthe substance of things hoped for, awaiting the throbbing heart of news. When ice assailed us, on we went, until ice could pursue no more. In defiance, our feet pushed urgently on.

What the press would say:
Here is a movie that aspires to nothing less and nothing more than beauty, one that simply places the unalloyed soul of an unbreakable family in front of an audience and delights inits awe. Little else but miracles transport us on a journey from Minnesota, to stunning regions across America, in a trek that channels the gallivanting cinematography of IntoThe Wild and the pensiveness of The Visitor.

Dennis Quaid puts forth the best performance of his career as an embattled father with a transcendent consicence. He is stronger than all the tribulations of an undone life, bearingthe saddle of pain, tragedy and triumph invisibly. He is the title's namesake, without debate, he is the bubble of peace guarding his two children against turbulous struggle ofrecovering the third. His strength, resolve, faith and wisdom power the film. With Peace Like A River, Quaid has announced his status as one of the finest actors of our time, provingthat all along, amidst dreadful comdies and other subpar fare, he really did always have it in him.

The two principal young actors are brilliant as well, capturing in equal parts the wonder and loss of children far from home, wanting only for their brother. Nathan Gamble is achinglysympathetic, and Marlene Lawston is breathtaking as a girl intelligent twofold beyond her years. Jonathon Demme's direction is key, he sets a mood and tempo early that is constantand friendly, electing smartly only to frame the characters and their actions, rather than emphasize them. Indeed, understatement is the beauty of the movie, as whisper-soft writingand muted visual tones create a sense of heaven, one un-breachable by any hardship. Peace Like A River is heart and beauty, distilled, and it's one of the masterpieces of recentmemory.

For Your Consideration:
BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR--JONATHON DEMME
BEST ACTOR--DENNIS QUAID
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR--NATHAN GAMBLE
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS--MARLENE LAWSTON
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR--LOGAN LERMAN
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR--AARON ECKHART
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY