I saw this movie last night on the Canadian "Women's Channel" which boasted that the film was an "exclusive" My opinion: probably because all other channels passed on it. The particular program on which this movie appeared, deals with topical social problems (usually, very well),holding discussions on the message of each movie. Last night's movie was supposed to convey the menace of right-wing anti-government groups...which, the program's moderator asserted were sprouting all over, even here, in law-abiding Canada. Whether or not, this be true, I couldn't tell from the movie where the bad guys did a lot of huffing and puffing, but the tensest moments, for me, was when a radio newscast announced the McVeigh bombing. I was prepared to be outraged at all the fulfilled threats against the heroine and her family, but, at films end, felt mildly annoyed at myself for waiting almost two hours, for all the various dynamics promised, but not delivered, at the film's "climax". I felt cheated, believing that the producers had, literally, made a big, padded, production out of a few scattered incidents in an obscure Montana town, and cashed in, on the fight at Waco, and the Oklahoma City bombing. The film was of some value to me...it caused me to reflect on the aesthetics of movie-making - if I were a film producer, I'd make the love interest...interesting. The quickest way to indicate why the hero/ heroine find each other attractive, is to make them attractive to the viewer. In a real lifetime, we can fall in love with short fat hairy people, because we do have a lifetime for their winning ways, or our mutual chemistry to work. In a movie, one has to identify wth the hero/heroine within a few reels. I'm not suggesting that the characters in this movie were s,f, or h. but for all their attraction for me, they might as well have been. Sure, the actors were competent as I aver most actors are - but why not get competent actors who are easy to look upon? (probably for far less money than what was paid to some of the "names" in this movie)
