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Shadrach (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Shadrach' is a 1998 American film directed by Susanna Styron, based on a short story by her father William Styron, about a former slave's struggle to be buried where he chooses.[https://www.google.com/search?q=Shadrach+Harvey+Keitel+Andie+MacDowell+Monica+Bugajski+Deborah+Hedwall+Darrell+Larson+Scott+Terra+Daniel+Treat&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NIspVZHbJIuayAS16ID4CA&ved=0CCsQ7Ak&biw=1258&bih=1342 Posters, photographs and other images associated with 'Shadrach'][https://books.google.com/books?id=qa5_AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT2667&lpg=PT2667&dq=shadrach+harvey+keitel&source=bl&ots=ZJ2nsJkE91&sig=F5mP35kEFa0OJ2KDXQuVQrNDX4Q&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hJEpVaH1O4mGyQTm8oHwCg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=shadrach%20harvey%20keitel&f=false Bleiler, David. 'Shadrach' at "TLA Film and Video Guide 20002001' (2013)]
Plot
Before the Civil War, the Dabney family of Virginia sold their slave, Shadrach (John Franklin Sawyer), to plantation owners in Alabama, separating him from his family. In 1935, during the Great Depression, Shadrachat the age of 99walks the 600 miles from his home in Alabama to the Dabney farm in Virginia. His one request is to be buried in the soil of the farm where he was born into slavery.
The farm is owned by the descendants of the Dabney family, consisting of Vernon (Keitel), Trixie (McDowell) and their seven children. But to bury a black man on that land is a violation of strict Virginia law, so the family goes through the arduous task of figuring out how to grant his request. Along the way they form a touching bond with the former slave and sharecropper, who has outlived both his former wives and some 35 children.[http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9810/28/review.shadrach/ Tatara, Paul. "Review: 'Shadrach' dredges up trash from the past" (CNN, October 28, 1998)]
Cast
Opening credits
*Harvey Keitel*Andie MacDowell
*Monica Bugajski
*Deborah Hedwall
*Darrell Larson
*Scott Terra
*Daniel Treat
*Jonathan Parks Jordan
*Erin Underwood
*'and introducing'
John Franklin Sawyer
as Shadrach
Closing Credits
* 'Narrated by' Martin Sheen'Cast' ('in order of appearance')
* John Franklin Sawyer as Shadrach
* Scott Terra as Paul
* Ginnie Randall as Virginia
* Darrell Larson as Father
* Deborah Hedwall as Mother
* Jonathan Parks Jordan as Middle Mole
* Erin Underwood as Lucinda
* Alice Rogers as Cloris
* Monica Bugajski as Edmonia
* Daniel Treat as Little Mole
* Andie MacDowell as Trixie
* Michael Ruff as "Smut"
* Muse Watson as Captain
* Doug Chancey as Dock Worker
* Harvey Keitel as Vernon
* Rick Warner as Presbyterian Minister
* Edward Bunker as Joe Thornton
* Clarinda Hollmond as Chapel Singer
* Melvin Cauthen as Earvin Williams
* Richard Olsen as Seddon Washington
* Olivia Bost as Betty "Sweet Betty"
* Bill Nelson as Fauntleroy
* Walter Hand as Preacher
* John Copeman as Stunt Coordinator
Tagline
*"One man's journey changed another man's heart"
Critical reception
Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film a mixed review, writing, "'Shadrach' is a well-meaning film, directed by Susanna Styron from her father's autobiographical story. But without diminishing Shadrach's own determination and dignity (evoked in a minimalist, whispering performance by first-time actor Sawyer), it indulges in a certain sentimentality that is hard to accept in the dark weather stirred up by 'Beloved'. The movie even has Vernon Dabney wonder if the slaves weren't better off back when they had an assured place in the social order and got their meals on time; the movie does not adopt this view as its own and quietly corrects him. But I was left with a vision of Vernon trying to expound his theories to Sethe, the heroine of 'Beloved', who would rather have a child dead in freedom than alive in slavery." Also, unlike all the other reviewers, who gave Shadrach's age as 99, Ebert described him as "a 101-year-old former slave".[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981016/REVIEWS/810160305/1023 Ebert, Roger]. 'Chicago Sun-Times', film review, October 16, 1998. Last accessed: February 8, 2011.
'Los Angeles Times' film critic Kevin Thomas liked the film and wrote, "This flawless, deeply felt yet buoyant and graceful film marks Styron's feature directorial debut, after a varied career as a documentarian, writer and as an assistant to Ken Russell on 'Altered States' and Luis Buuel on 'That Obscure Object of Desire'. That she herself has a Southern heritage, adapting (with Bridget Terry) her own celebrated father's story, surely gives the period-perfect 'Shadrach' its special resonance.[https://articles.latimes.com/1998/sep/25/entertainment/ca-26120 Thomas, Kevin]. 'Los Angeles Times', film review, September 25, 1998. Last accessed: February 8, 2011.
A sympathetic 'New York Times' review by Lawrence Van Gelder posited that "[I]n films like 'The Grass Harp' and today's arrival, 'Shadrach', a generation raised in prosperity turns to a difficult past, suffuses it with a romantic glow and gazes with something like envy on its simple ways while tapping its people for insights into life's eternal verities, like death. On more than one level, the slight, sweet, sentimental 'Shadrach' is a labor of love by Susanna Styron, the film's director and co-writer, from an autobiographical tale by her father, William Styron, published in 'Esquire' in 1978."[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A00E0D81130F930A1575AC0A96E958260&scp=1&sq=Shadrach%20Styron&st=cse Van Gelder, Lawrence. "Uplifting Lessons in a Sweet, Tumbledown World" ('The New York Times', September 23, 1998)]
'Variety' magazine film critic Emanuel Levy had problems with the screenplay in his review, writing, "Susanna Styron and Bridget Terry's script, which extends to the limits a narrative that is basically a small, simple and poignant story, suffers from being both literal and literary. Indeed, were it not for the foul language used by the white trash but decent father, 'Shadrach' is the kind of well-intentioned picture that could easily have been made by Disney and comfortably play as an after-school special."[https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117467402?refcatid=31 Levy, Emanuel]. 'Variety', film review, April 19, 1998. Last accessed: February 8, 2011.
'Reel Talk' reviewer Donald Levit referred to the film's length as well as Martin Sheen's narration, "[R]unning times vary, from eighty-six to a hundred ten minutes, but even the latter, European print does not need this unseen presence looking back, setting scenes, and drawing a lesson learned (or not)."[http://www.reeltalkreviews.com/browse/viewitem.asp?type=review&id=3138 Levit, Donald. "I Understood As a Child" ('Reel Talk Movie Reviews')]
Evaluation in film guides
'Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever' (2011 edition) throws 'Shadrach' 2 bones (out of possible four), giving a plot overview and opining that "[D]irector Susanna Styron's lethargic adaptation of her father William's 1978 short story proves that the story should have stayed shorter than 90 minutes. Although the relatively small budget shows, the cast provides good performances".
'Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide' (2014 edition) has a higher opinion, giving the production 3 stars (out of 4) describing it as a "[N]icely realized film set in Virginia in 1935". Following a brief description of the plot, Maltin says of the title character, "[T]hough he's a strangerand a strange presence indeedthe family feels compelled to help him. Kudos to first-time director Styron; the film is adapted from a short story by her father William".
Mick Martin's and Marsha Porter's 'DVD & Video Guide' (2007 edition) goes still higher, dispensing 3 stars (out of 5), describing it as a "[N]otable debut for filmmaker Susanna Styron, who coadapts father William Styron's short story" The write-up ends with "[E]ven though the film never lacks sincerity, it does tend to skirt several important issues".
Release and distribution
The film, originally distributed by Columbia Tri-Star Pictures, was initially released on September 25, 1998 on a limited basis with four showings in Wilmington, North Carolina, then quickly released to VHS home video and DVD by Sony Pictures. It was also shown at the Los Angeles Film Festival on April 16, 1998, and released internationally with showings in France, Finland, Spain and the United Kingdom, to generally positive critical reviews. Australian writers Paul Fischer and David Edwards were highly complimentary, with Fischer calling it "a beautifully complex masterpiece that has resonances with the likes of 'Grapes of Wrath', concluding that "'Shadrach' is an exquisite, detailed drama, beautifully made", and Edwards continuing in much the same vein, "[L]yrical and beautiful, it's one of those minor masterpieces that comes along all too rarely".[http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=1682&s=Reviews 'Urban Cinefile: The World of Film in Australia - on the Internet']
References
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