Far and Away Dir. Ron Howard

Far and Away Dir Ron Howard

I liked the opening credits that started with just the water and progressed to show the sealine in Ireland then the town. I found the filming of this movie very different but I liked it a lot. The camera spiraled at times while going farther away and did many landscape, pan shots of Ireland.

            Tom Cruise stars and plays an interesting role in this film with Nicole Kidman. Right from the beginning we see he does not get along with his brothers and acts differently than other men in the small town. He sets out to avenge the burning of his home by killing the landlord. His plan backfires but he escapes with the landlord’s daughter to America.

            Once in America they find jobs but both face separate problems within their jobs. Their care for each other begins to grow even though they are fronting as brother and sister in America. HE finds fame as a boxer in a club while she works plucking chicken feathers. There is a big role reversal in America from their previous lives in Ireland.

            This movie addresses a few different issues. First the class division and caste system set up in Ireland, where the rich and poor not only lead opposite lives but have a mutual dislike for each other, that goes as far as hatred.

            Once they move to America they find work within the Irish community in Boston. There is a lot of tension and hatred towards the immigrated Irish. After Shannon and Joseph loose their jobs they are unable to find work because they are Irish. Both eventually reach their dream of land and the west with each other.

            This movie not only shows the struggles between social classes, it shows the hardships of immigrants when they first moved to America and then travelling west to get land. It was an interesting mix of hardships, social problems, discovering your dreams combined with fighting, family and love.