Ponder Post: Far From the Madding Crowd

My memories from seeing Far From the Madding Crowd when I was in high school was that it was a long, dull, and boring movie and that I did not understand the point of it at all. I went to a girls' private Catholic High School. Teaching standards were strict and high, so spending precious class time to watch a movie was highly frowned upon in the late 1960's to early 1970's when I attended. It was bewildering therefore, why all four class levels were marched to the multi-purpose room, like at an all-hands assembly, to see this movie projected up on a screen on the stage. Was it supposed to be a holiday treat? I do not remember it as such. If that had been the intention, it failed miserably since it was so slow moving and very, very long as I recall.

Were we ushered in to see the movie because it was based on a book by Thomas Hardy of the same title?  It was not a topic of English class and not a book we were required to read so I doubt that was the reason for the showing. My only specific memory from viewing the movie, other than boredom and tedium, was a scene where some sheep ate something they should not have and their bellies swelled up with gas. Men walked around the field littered with sheep lying on their side with beach ball rounded ribs and drove a stake into each sheep's belly, expelling the trapped gas. Apparently this did not kill the sheep because they roused from their lethargy after they had thus been relieved.

So when Frank wanted me to come with him to see Far From the Madding Crowd at our local movie theatre Friday afternoon, I was not very inclined to do so. The movie version I saw in high school was most likely released in 1967. Livermore has two movie theaters: a large multiplex that shows new releases, and a smaller original two screen theatre, The Vine,  that shows a few new releases but mostly artsy films or retro flicks or sport events. Far From the Madding Crowd was playing as The Vine so, in my defense, I assumed it was the crummy old movie I had been forced to sit through in high school. Saturday, I begrudgingly accompanied Frank as a good wife because he wanted to go. (Actually if I'd been acting like a good wife I would have gone more willingly on Friday and not silently begrudgingly on Saturday.) I was unaware that there had been a new release of the movie this year and that it was a recent 2015 release that was playing at The Vine.

IMDB sums up the 2015 remake of Far From the Madding Crowd this way:

In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor.

The move was very, very good, much to my surprise. The plot line was plausible and engaging. Any violence it contained was understated and understood without the need for in-your-face graphically gruesome scenes. The men showed their love for a women by protecting her and respecting her and by self-sacrifice. The scenery was gorgeous - worthy of a large screen viewing. Since I did not realize I was watching a remake until the movie finished I was therefore confused as to how I could have had such a poor opinion of this movie from high school. Was I just immature?  So now I have to go back and watch the 1967 version available from Netflix to see if it was me or the version of the movie that fell so short for me 45 years ago. There was another release of the movie in 1998 by PBS, also.

I think I may need to read the original book, too since I never have. In looking at some movie reviews I learned that Bathsheba Everdene is the namesake for The Hunger Games heroine Katniss Everdeen. Neither of them seemed to know their own heart but both were very headstrong. Is that perhaps why those nuns all those years ago wanted us school girls to see this? Were they trying to instill in us a role model for an independent women? I guess I will never know. The inner strength of Bathsheba was far more inspiring to watch for me than the warrior style of Katniss but both were powerful women.

I recommend seeing the 2015 release of Far From the Madding Crowd. I really enjoyed it and it sparked interesting discussions between Frank and me afterward. I cannot however, give a recommendation on the 1967 version until I have seen it again. The 1967 version may still be LDB - long, dull, and boring. Maybe that is why there were remakes in 1998 and 2015 ...?