Day #21 - How Green Was My Valley

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033729/

I LOVED LOVED LOVED this movie!! So fantastic. What a wonderful, heartwarming, and yet tragic and sad movie. It follows the Morgan family in a small South Wales coal mining town, 6 sons and 1 daughter, their mother and father. The story is narrated by the youngest son, Huw, played by Roddy McDowall, so you see the whole movie through his eyes. All of his older brothers along with his father work in the coal mine and his sister Angharad, played by the beautiful Maureen O'Hara, helps with her mother at home. The movie follows the trials and tribulations of the family and they definitely have their fair share. When wages are cut at the coal mine, the Morgan sons want to form a union and strike - when their Dad stands against the strike, they leave home. In the meantime, Huw gets in an accident saving his mom from drowning and loses the use of his legs for months as he heals. The town is really centered around the chapel and there is definitely a strong current of faith that runs through the movie which is really inspiring. Once the Minister announces his favor of the union, the workers return to the mine and the sons come home - only to leave for America after losing their jobs to cheaper workers. The idea of family in this movie is so strong - here you have a husband and wife who truly care for each other and their family and yet they face so many struggles. I love Huw, who is so loyal to his family and although he earns honors in school, he decides to work in the mines like his father and brothers. I won't speak much more on the plot, but overall I was just so inspired by faith and family.

I also wanted to say that I am really enjoying watching older movies. I always thought, well, in the older movies, you know, I can't relate to what's going on. It was a different time and women aren't like that anymore, people don't behave the same, the country was at war/depression/etc. - now we have cell phones and the internet and ridiculous technology....how can I possibly relate? But what I am realizing is that we are all involved in the human experience. How Green Was My Valley could be made just as easily today as it was in 1941. The story is the same. Family. Hardship. Work. Love. Celebration. Those things don't change over time - and that's kinda cool :)

How Green Was My Valley won 5 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp who played the father), and Best Art Direction. It won Best Picture over Sargent York, Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon!