Oh my God

The setting is Appalachia at the turn of the century. It's a very proud heritage. Many of these people left the hills and hollows to become heroes in World War II. (Look up the story of Alvin York or watch the movie "Sergeant York"). At the time, surviving WAS the center of their being. It was difficult, yet they found time for laughter and music. It's a shame that you didn't appreciate the culture of the time.

I stumbled across this movie on HBO or Cinemax several months ago, watched for a bit and found that didn't capture my interest. So I turned it off and went and did something else.

Perhaps I should have kept the movie on for longer to see the defense of cultural relativism and the barbarism against civilization of which you write. For the time that I did watch, I saw a story about people from different backgrounds trying to understand a little more about each others perspectives. Some of that may have been exaggerated, as is often the case in any movie or piece of fiction because real life for the most part is simply not that dramatic for the majority of the population.

As a Dickinson grad, I'm curious about your comment pertaining to the Dickinson College approach to life. Again, maybe I should have watched the entire film to see the perspective you describe about the "sex-crazed, survival-centered animals" that populate the film. My time at Dickinson was not spent trying to convince the world that the people of Appalachia are any worse, or less civilized, than people from other areas of the country or the world.

Have you ever been to Appalichia? If you haven't how dare you say those things about us? Our songs are what make us! There is nothing else in this world I would rather do that to sit down and listen to these songs, sing these songs. I love everything about where I live and the songs we sing.

I love this movie. It accurately protrays Appalichia from my family's view point. The songs in this movie were sung to me when I was a baby by my grandparents.

We are NOT barbaric animals. And we are people. To me this is the only way to live. We are sheltered from so much of this SH-T that goes on in this world. At least here you can leave your doors unlocked and your windows open at night and not have to worry.

Missy
When I say "Jump," you say "On who?"

For all that, it's a beautiful movie for all with eyes to see and ears to hear. I'd guess that jsadams kept political blinders and earplugs firmly in place (and probably found Dickinson College annoying because, like the movie, it interfered with comfortable prejudices). I strongly recommend this movie for its intelligent script, its powerful acting, its lovely music, its breathtaking cinematography.

Obviously didn't grow up in the woods or the mountians. As a poor okie refugee from mthe Ozarks now living in Houston, this movie wa wonderful. You have to get past the inbreeding and idiocy and see this movie for what it was...as beutiful portayal of the preservation of a completely American art form...brought form the ships from Scotland and Ireland and givin an Appalacian flair. Pooh-Pooh on yoh for even NOT liking this film or it's soundtrack.

Just because they don't have sex the way YOU think they ought to, or with people YOU think they ought to, doesn't make them sex-craved, survivalist animals. It doesn't give you the right to pass judgement on them, either. don't use God as an excuse for being a self-centered, bible-thumping, empty-headed right wing snot for brains hypocritical moron.

I'm sorry that you found this beautiful movie worthless, but I would guess it is because you are lacking something in yourself that you can't see the beauty in a simplistic way of life.

While it's all very well and good (not to mention healthy) for any of us to think our way of life is perferable, to denigrate anyone else's way of life is arrogance embodied. It seems that ignorance can be found in whatever you count as your civilization as well. And I would beg you to show me a civilization that is not "survival-centered." And while I don't think that any civilization deserves your title of "sex-crazed," perpetuation of the species is a natural state of being, and exists everywhere, and was no more present here than it is in whatever you count as your civilization.

I pity you, locked in your little self-satisfied, superior world.

I did a little research on our buddy jsadams-1. It seems this is the only film out of any film or tv show (s)he has ever seen that (s)he felt compelled enough to comment on. One can only assume that if you take the time to sign up for imdb, you want to talk about movies because you don't need to sign up to do anything else. If you take the time to sign up and only comment on one movie, on February 16, 2005, over a year from the date I researched our hateful fellow, it makes one wonder (s)he signed up merely to bash Songcatcher. I doubt its the only film (s)he's seen and I doubt that (s)he never cared enough to comment on any other movies, other than one that (s)he did not like. Not to mention the fact that after 15 responses to the only comment jsadams-1 ever made, and most likely signed up solely to post, (s)he never bothered to respond. If someone felt so compelled to sign up to imdb to say something and 15 comments and a year later never responded to any one of the posts that criticzed him/her, it makes one wonder how much thought (s)he really put into his/her analysis of the only film (s)he ever commented on. With this, even if what (s)he had to say was thought provoking, inightful, or interesting (s)he would still have no credibility based on his/her track record.

"I have never watched a more worthless movie than Songcatcher"-jsadams-1. Wow, never a worse movie than Songcatcher? Well maybe I'm wrong and Songcatcher is the only movie (s)he has ever seen and therefore only commented on this movie. If this is true, (s)he must have had a bad attitude going into the movie to find the one movie (s)he ever watched to be terrible. Second, the movie dosen't go out of its way to "make you feel like you are 'there', " Films like Requiem for a Dream, Platoon, 28 Days later, etc make you feel like you are there. Just because A filmmaker throws in a few scenery shots does not nessicarily mean they are trying to place the viewer in the period. The clothing and the culture shown seems to be, from what I know, pretty accurate. If it was not accurate, or as you put it "make you feel like you are 'there', " then it would not make much sense because you would be wondering why, if the movie was set in modern middle America people were playing banjos and talking funny. The reason I mention that as a setting is because that is the setting for most modern movies, if they do not set a particular time period or location. Setting a scene merely helps you associate a time period or area with you are watching. For this film it was nessicary because it was about Appalachian culture in the late 1800s early 1900s. By my count, thats 0 for 2 buddy. Not looking so hot. Perhaps you should try posting some more comments on different movies, maybe ones that you liked so you wont be so let down by this criticism of your one comment. Have you ever been to Appalachia jsadams-1? Chances are, your most likely too ignorant to do anything so enriching. So if you have not, you have no possible authority on what the relationship they share is like. Even if it was exaggerated, often times thats the hardest part of being a filmmaker, deciding wheter to be ambiguous or obvious. If your too ambiguous, the audience will lose touch with the film because they might not know or care what is going on. If you share too much, it isn't as fun to watch. Wow, this may be the closest to a good point you've made so far. "left to themselves in the woods." In case you missed 90% of the movie, they were not left to themselves. They were visited by a prim, proper, intelligent woman from "the city," an outsider if you will. "Sex-crazed" How? Lily falls in love with Tom, yet sex is never shown, possibly implied. The two teachers fall in love. They kiss a few times but again thats all you see. Faith and Deladis fool around as young kids, yet never have sex. All in all this is a story of a music scholar that goes to the mountains to see her family and ends up entangled in a journey to caputre ballads and folks songs she had only read about. During this, she becomes one of the mountain people in a way. No case is made for the civilization or why it is good or bad. You can draw your own conclusions but that is not what is shown in the movie. As for the Dickinson College comment, I would like to know what college you go to.

Now, (please) correct me if I'm wrong jsadams-1, but it seems every ignorant point you tried to make has no legitimacy or evedince in this film. I would love to hear your response to prove me, and everyone else wrong. If you have nothing to say, we will accept the fact that you really had nothing to say to begin with and you just don't like appalachain culture and are thefore most likely a racist and only signed up to imdb to spout your anti-appalachain rhetoric!- well thats all, your pal -Jeff