I think you missed the point of the movie altogether. Yes, it became a little preachy and overreaching like you said, and it had some hokey moments. It could have been condensed to a 7 part series and been more effective.
However, the purpose of this movie was to demonstrate that our sense of being an American lies in our passion as a people. It exists beyond a flag or territory. We are made by the experiences of our ancestors who toiled against odds to achieve a purpose of happiness and prosperity in a country that allowed those things to exist. Regardless, of our ideologies, religion, party affiliation, etc; most is Americans have a great sense of inner pride for our ancestors and what we, ourselves, can attribute for our sons and daughters.
That passion was lost as our country became a superpower. In it's place was a country that forced what it thought was the perfect system over the will of countries. As a result the world turned its back on us. When the Soviets took over, there
was no great uprising. Most Americans became concerned about losing too much of their personal gains to do anything. They simply accepted the situation and hoped for the better.
The movie gets to the heart of its message where Colonel Denisov is telling Peter Bradford about how he came to San Francisco and how he became infatuated with the American people. Although America is a defeated nation, they still possess their sense of pride, creativity and individualism although it has lost focus. He see's this in the cities, the outlaw theaters, and in the culture. These are items he does not see in the USSR or anywhere else as the people in thise countries have become compliant. Denisov becomes quite agitated while describing these issues to Peter Bradford as he is frustrated. It is the passion that makes a free society thrive. America had it, and it let it go.
What most people were expecting from this series wasn't something that would make them think. Unfortunately, they wanted a popcorn movie of a brutal Soviet occupation with heroic resistance fighters pushing them out. The whole message of what makes our country great was lost, ironically, by most of the viewers that it was trying to reach.
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habsfannova
11 years ago
I think the series commits the sin of really just "expecting" the viewer to think like you do, instead of actually bringing them along for the ride.
That's why I think the whole Heartland story was, by far, the most interesting: You had an interesting clash of principles (Bradford's pragmatism vs. that ingrained feeling you describe). The scene with the woman at the Politburo meeting just instinctively opposing Heartland was brilliant: It really showed what you're talking about.
The whole Devin Milford thing was just brutally fumbled, in my mind. Something didn't connect somewhere along the line: I think it was the bizarre combination of (1) His unexplained pro-American individualism (2) the whole family/ex-wife angle and (3) Peronist charismatic leadership that just didn't feel right. Cut one of those 3 and you might make it work, or make Kristofferson look like he cares.
I mean, I'm fine with a series taking a couple of logic leaps if it goes somewhere. For example, to think Soviet officers would suddenly embrace capitalism and America is ridiculous, ditto the fact they'd let Miford live, but it does introduce the storyline well.
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bek-12
10 years ago
I agree with your points. I'll add that the ending felt very unresolved. While I get that we're supposed to believe Devin inspired an uprising, possibly a slow awakening of the people, it really didn't work for me because they didn't take it far enough. A more logical assumption is that Heartland is formed from the breaking up of the USA. The future was clearly headed in that direction.
I also think they could have cut this series in half time-wise and it would have been more effective. It was far too slow.
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