My Antonia

Following the smallpox deaths of his parents, Virginian teen Jimmy Burden (Neil Patrick Harris) finds himself transplanted to the rolling farmlands of the Midwest during the great immigrant migration of the late 1800s. Though yielding to his strict grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Burden (Jason Robards and Eva Marie Saint), Jimmy finds a soul mate in free-spirited Antonia Shimerda (Elina Lowensohn) whose Russian immigrant family is ill-prepared for the prejudices and hardships awaiting them as farmers. Guiding their grandson's future, the Burdens are charitable to the emigree Bohemians but urge Jimmy to confine his relationship with Antonia to tutoring her in English. Defeated by his failure to provide for his large family, Mr. Shimerda (Jan Triska) shoots himself. Come springtime, the Burdens decide to retire to the city so Jimmy can receive a better education. Defying her husband's dictum, Mrs. Burden arranges for Antonia to secure a serving position in the house next door to theirs. Angering her new employers after Jimmy fights with Harry Paine (Travis Fine) over her at a dance, Antonia accepts a declasse hotel job, dismisses Jimmy's romantic interest in her, and encourages him to succeed at Harvard. While Jimmy achieves his ivy-covered goals despite the sexual distraction of Antonia's friend Lena (Anne Tremko), less-fortunate Antonia encounters disgrace and unwed motherhood after her elopement with Paine. Later, attorney Jimmy is overjoyed that his beloved Antonia has found contentment with an upright farmer husband and many children.

Despite all the highlights of Cather's masterful tome--births, deaths, winter storms, decades of unrequited love--this made-for-cable movie has all the impact of a schoolmarm reciting grammatical tables. As restrained and tasteful as a leather-bound copy of Cather, this movie is a rather tidy tribute to the unruly pioneer spirit Cather was celebrating. Because her yarn is so solidly constructed and because Robards and Saint flawlessly embody their rural characters, MY ANTONIA is a pleasant viewing experience if not a memorable one. What's missing (and this can only partially be attributed to Harris's colorless reading of narrative passages from the novel) is the sense of connection between rowdy Antonia and puppy-doggish Jimmy. Through a combination of sincere but foot-dragging direction and a script encumbered with years of piled-up incidents, the innocent friendship-turned-social tragedy never registers in more than flashes. Refusing to condescend to Cather's regional types and elevated by a firm period sense, MY ANTIONIA is an honorable failure. But the rich panorama of the novel deserved more than this Cliff Notes guide to Cather country (Violence, profanity, sexual situations.) leave a comment