Here's how "A Map of the World" gets its title - Alice (Weaver) drew a child's colorful version of a map of the world, with a big rainbow, when she was young. The "map" makes a couple of appearances during the film, and is part of the last scene when Alice narrates using her map of the world and her family of four in an analogy.
I rate this film a solid "8" of 10. There are no special effects, character development is relatively deliberate, and the complete storyline unfolds gradually, much like "Lone Star" does. Weaver's and Strathairn's characters remind me of the two leads in "Limbo" - good people who are just barely holding things in their lives together. They are big-city folk who decide to buy a rural dairy farm and "work it" with their two small girls. A couple of tragedies enter, and their lives are forever changed. The film deals with relationships and the human resiliency that allows us to adapt.
CAUTION -- SPOILERS FOLLOW --
Things start to unravel when Alice, a grade-school nurse, allows a friend's (Theresa, Julianne Moore) little girl to wander off and drown in their farm pool. The girl actually dies a bit later in the hospital, only kept alive by machines. This happens about the time Alice is going half-crazy dealing with the brats at school, and especially the kid who seems to always be sick, and who once spit out medicine into her face, and she slapped him in angry reaction. Days after the girl dies, Alice is arrested, but for "sexual abuse" of the little brat at school. Two other children later join with complaints.
At first it seems that Alice looks at her imprisonment as a "vacation" from the daily grind of taking care of her kids and the farm. She asks Howard (husband David Strathairn) to bring her books, she reads a lot, stays to herself, hardly asks about the kids. It starts to look like she may really be guilty, and inside a very sick person. What's really going on, she feels that she has earned her "punishment" because of letting the girl die, but is not worried because she is innocent and will get out only in a matter of time.
Meanwhile, Howard is having a very difficult time on the farm, cannot raise the money to bail Alice out, all the friends and neighbors assume she is guilty and snub them. He eventually sells the farm, moves to a small apartment, gets Alice out of jail, they hire a good lawyer, they expose the hoax, clear Alice, Thresa become her ally again, and Howard ends up working at the state driver license office. The story ends with Alice, Howard, and their two girls sitting at a round table, and Alice's narration about the 'map of the world."
Weaver does a marvelous job, and her character is detestable at times. The DVD is clear but simple, no 5.1 soundtrack, very limited extras, but overall one of the better films that deals with life's difficulties and triumphs. A mature film for mature viewers.
I rate this film a solid "8" of 10. There are no special effects, character development is relatively deliberate, and the complete storyline unfolds gradually, much like "Lone Star" does. Weaver's and Strathairn's characters remind me of the two leads in "Limbo" - good people who are just barely holding things in their lives together. They are big-city folk who decide to buy a rural dairy farm and "work it" with their two small girls. A couple of tragedies enter, and their lives are forever changed. The film deals with relationships and the human resiliency that allows us to adapt.
CAUTION -- SPOILERS FOLLOW --
Things start to unravel when Alice, a grade-school nurse, allows a friend's (Theresa, Julianne Moore) little girl to wander off and drown in their farm pool. The girl actually dies a bit later in the hospital, only kept alive by machines. This happens about the time Alice is going half-crazy dealing with the brats at school, and especially the kid who seems to always be sick, and who once spit out medicine into her face, and she slapped him in angry reaction. Days after the girl dies, Alice is arrested, but for "sexual abuse" of the little brat at school. Two other children later join with complaints.
At first it seems that Alice looks at her imprisonment as a "vacation" from the daily grind of taking care of her kids and the farm. She asks Howard (husband David Strathairn) to bring her books, she reads a lot, stays to herself, hardly asks about the kids. It starts to look like she may really be guilty, and inside a very sick person. What's really going on, she feels that she has earned her "punishment" because of letting the girl die, but is not worried because she is innocent and will get out only in a matter of time.
Meanwhile, Howard is having a very difficult time on the farm, cannot raise the money to bail Alice out, all the friends and neighbors assume she is guilty and snub them. He eventually sells the farm, moves to a small apartment, gets Alice out of jail, they hire a good lawyer, they expose the hoax, clear Alice, Thresa become her ally again, and Howard ends up working at the state driver license office. The story ends with Alice, Howard, and their two girls sitting at a round table, and Alice's narration about the 'map of the world."
Weaver does a marvelous job, and her character is detestable at times. The DVD is clear but simple, no 5.1 soundtrack, very limited extras, but overall one of the better films that deals with life's difficulties and triumphs. A mature film for mature viewers.