In this country, when the land is your life...you fight for your life

Starring: Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard, Wilford Brimley, Matt Clark, Therese Graham, Levi L. Knebel, Jim Haynie, Sandra Seacat

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ - good

"No sale! No sale! No sale!" – Jewel Ivy

Why watch this? The closure of family farms started in the 1980's, and is still happening today.

Plot Summary: This American story follows a farming family struggling to keep their ancestral farm during the economic hardship of the 1980s. Facing foreclosure due to low crop prices, loans, and a tornado, the family battles to save their home and livelihood. The film showcases the resilience of the family, particularly the farmer's wife, as they navigate the challenges and fight to maintain their way of life.

Dad's Preview: This film, and The River (1984), took a hard look at how family farmers are being forced out of business by greedy politicians and corporations. Here we witness the human toll: bankruptcy, broken homes, even suicide. The tornado scene hits me a little too close to home. The simple statement is this: lone family farmers have to survive everything: weather, big industrial farming operations, bankers, and real estate developers. I saw this in Texas, but it is the same all over: Iowa. Pennsylvania. Michigan. Our country needs its family-owned farms, if for no other reason, to keep the goddamn corporations out.

Touchstone Films, Far West Productions, Pangaea Corp.; Buena Vista Dist. Co.