Country Matters is packaged with lovely, serene photos. Fueled by the title, the mind conjures up pastoral images. I was prepared for a series of Period Piece short films that spoke of love, hate, loss, gain, apathy, greed, and all other such matters related to life everywhere, not just in a country setting.....What I got was several grim, sometimes mean little stories and the sole taste left in my mouth was that of utter cynicism. I wanted to be just in my assessments, and followed through by first actually viewing all of the stories in the two DVD set. Secondly, I truly strived to view these vignettes with an open mind....It is admirable that the authors of these slice-of-life stories strived for realism. I regret, however, that their point of view was quite unbalanced in that the Law of Reciprocity(You know-the reap what you sow thing) seems not to exist in the world of these stories. No one expects the "happy ever after". Again I understand that these are simply vignettes. The nuances of hope, light, and (God forbid, can I say it) redemption are sorely absent from this archival collection. There wasn't a single film in this collection that left me with a desire and or longing to watch it again.
