#11 - Music Box

What do you do when your father, whom you love, trust, and admire, is accused of commiting numerous atrocities in his European homeland during World War II? This is the struggle that Jassica Lange is faced with in Music Box. She is forced to legally defend her father after his imigration status has been revoked due to these accusations. What follows is an interesting struggle of a woman defending her fathers honor, when she knows very little about his past. In the midst of mounting evidence, she questions her actions as a daughter/lawyer as well as questioning the honesty and purety of her loving father.

The movie does a good job of bluring the truth for the majority of the film. Why would this be good? Because it is taking you on the journey of Jessica Lange's character who is struggling to uncover the truth about her father. We feel the highs and lows that she does as information is revealed about the past is revealed. This is a convention that is done quite often, but this one does is better than most. What makes it so effective is that the performance of the father is one of honesty and sympathy. He is what makes the struggle so hard because you want to believe that he is unable of performing such heinous acts. He is truly kind, calm, and quiet.

One thing that pops into my mind is a question of how daning ones past should be. Are there some acts that are so heinous that you can never escape them, even if you have proven yourself to be kind and honest in other respects? It's an interesting question and I think that a past such as activities during the holocaust would be unforgivable, but where is the line drawn? At what point can you forgive? Is it time that makes forgiveness a possibility, or is it the level of the initial atrocity?

All in all, this was a good movie. I can't say that I need to see it again, but it had good writing and good performances. It was a bit slow at times, but I guess thats the danger of dramas. More importantly, it raised questions other than "Why am I watching this?" or "Is this still on?" Good movie, not great.