The Homesman is a dreary movie, but dreariness aside, it’s also a good movie. It shows the brutal and bitter side of frontier life, a life I cannot imagine how—or why—those brave souls in the past took on. But it shows too how that life destroyed not only lives but minds of some of those who attempted to take it on.
The film moves slowly, but it holds your attention by focusing on a great performance by Hillary Swank. Her grit and determination, her depression and her resolve—they all are worn with deep concentrating and focused lines on her face. Her story is bleak in its own right, showing not only how far we’ve come as women but also how far we have not. Her journey is ragged and her spirit is raw and exposed, tired, and tried. But her ability to move forward remains powerfully strong right up until the moment when it vanishes.
As a period movie, The Homesman paints a dreadful picture of frontier life. This is definitely not a move about a Little House on the Prairie.