In the 1990 movie A Long Walk Home the city of Montgomery, Alabama is thrown into the middle of the civil rights movement during the 1955 bus boycotts. The movie shows how the event of the boycotts slowing changed perceptions of integration and divided the city on the issues of civil rights. The movie focuses on the connections between a white and black family and the ways in which each member reacts to the serious society-altering events occurring. Though race relations are at the forefront of the movies content there is a strong theme of women’s rights and economic equality.
Odessa Cotter, a black woman, has been a maid in the middle class white Thompson family household for nine loyal years, but after the start of the bus boycotts she is confronted with the uncertainty of employment and her own safety while working in a white family’s house. Miriam Thompson is a tolerant and compassionate woman who accepts the black maids that she hires and has employed all her life. Her husband, Norman Thompson, is a successful businessman who exhibits traces of male chauvinism and slight prejudice towards the black community. As the movie progresses Norman reveals his shallow and conforming nature as his younger brother is able to persuade him that blacks are corrupting the city with their boycott of the city bus system. The relationship between Miriam and Norman Thompson develops into a metaphor for America in the 1950s. Miriam believes that blacks should have the right to ride the bus and life without prejudice, but stays silent because she is subservient to her husband’s will. Norman’s weakness and desperate desire to be accepted in the middle class business society leads him down a path which strains his marriage and ultimately abandon his wife and daughter. The movie portrays an interesting look on traditional 1950s housewife life and exemplifies the lack of women’s rights even in an era of women suffrage.
I found it very interesting how the film intertwined two very important movements: civil and women’s rights. There seemed to be a connection between black workers and white women. They both were socially expected to serve and work for the white male in the town of Montgomery, Alabama and in the entire country. The American Identity was based on the obedience of all groups to the middle or upper class white male. Since the Civil rights and women’s rights movements shattered this ideal, the men of Montgomery resorted to extreme violence and oppression in order to stay on top of the social hierarchy. I was very proud of Miriam’s character when she finally stood up to her husband for her beliefs. I was surprised that Norman told Miriam that she was only a wife, confirming that many men in America put their wives on pedestals and did not always value them as intellectual human beings.
The cinematography of the movie was not anything extraordinary but showed a simple view of the 1950s lifestyle. The actors all played very convincing roles and fit their character parts very well. Sissy Spacek and Whoopi Goldberg had a compatible chemistry on the screen that made their movie relationship believable. The Cotter children had very emotional parts which they played to a heartbreaking degree. I really enjoyed the film as a whole. I thought that it portrayed a more accurate image of what life was really like for women and African Americans in the United States. Many other movies that were made during this time portray a perfect housewife life complete with a loving yet dominate husband which makes all decisions for the family. It was very refreshing to see this film and show the gradual shift that leads Miriam’s character to self-discovery and mental independence from her husband. I was very concerned for Miriam’s character when Norman forces her to stop driving the maid to work. The fact that he was so controlling and would not listen to his wife until she threatened to take a job and become financially independent shows that Norman is not a very accepting husband. Throughout the movie we are able to see how Norman breaks under peer pressure and abandons the true meaning of his wedding vows. I thought the entire movie did a great job with a realistic representation of life in Montgomery, Alabama. I don’t think I would want to alter the movie in any way. I thought that the historical content of the movie was not skewed to make a good story; the content was a great story to begin with. It was nice that the movie didn’t focus on the leaders of the civil rights movement in Montgomery, Alabama, but focused on the ordinary people who were inspired and affected by the bus boycotts and the changing society. Seeing the ripple effects of the national Civil Rights leaders in a small town was quite enlightening and interesting.
The new plot idea to the movie not only made it something unique, but recaptured an audience that had grown tired of the traditional movies about the leaders of the civil rights movement. I liked how the movie closely ties together women’s rights and African American civil rights. The music of the movie was not in the front of my mind while I was watching the movie but did play a small role in creating a believable historical environment. The hymns sung by the women and those who attended church resonated throughout the entire movie providing a spiritual base for the characters. It reminded us that they were fighting for more than just seats on a bus but equality throughout the nation. The screenplay was written very well and provided characters with the means to make a believable and successful historical film. I thought this was an excellent film which tied very well to the topics we had discussed in class.
