Tommy Alford Movies
The place of gay and lesbian congregation and clergy within various Christian denominations has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent decades, and many conservative Christian leaders have justified church polices which limit the participation of homosexuals in the church (as well as support of legislation against gay marriage or civil rights for gays) by citing certain passages of the Holy Bible. But what do these passages really mean? How accurate is their translation from the original holy texts? And have they been used outside of proper context to justify a political agenda that runs counter to Christian ideals of acceptance and forgiveness? For The Bible Tells Me So is a documentary which looks at the ongoing battle of gays and lesbians to celebrate their faith without denying their sexual preferences. The film includes interviews with a number of conservative Christian families as well as V. Gene Robinson, who became the first officially ordained Anglican bishop; political activist and spiritual leader Bishop Desmond Tutu; and Chrissy Gephardt, the openly lesbian daughter of Congressman Dick Gephardt. For The Bible Tells Me So was directed by Daniel Karslake, longtime producer of the PBS news and public affairs series In The Life. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Director Martin Ritt's bucolic rural environments of Norma Rae, Conrack, and Sounder, are re-visited once again in Cross Creek, based on author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' memoirs of her times on a remote Florida bayou. Mary Steenburgen plays Rawlings, author of The Yearling, who, in 1928, makes the abrupt decision to leave her husband and move to an isolated orange grove to concentrate on her writing. Rawlings buys a run-down house covered with cobwebs that she restores with quick dispatch. In these desolate surroundings, Rawlings pauses in her housecleaning to listen reflectively to the otherworldly noises of the swamp. But suddenly out of this loneliness, people emerge. There is Geechee (Alfre Woodard), Rawlings' devoted servant; Marsh Turner (Rip Torn), a liquor-guzzling swamp rat; Floyd Turner (Cary Guffey), a cute harmonica-playing boy; and Ellie Turner (Dana Hill), a little girl whose fawn becomes the basis of Rawlings' Yearling book. Rawlings becomes involved with Norton Baskin (Peter Coyote), the owner of the local hotel, and, as she settles into life on the bayou and her friendship with Norton and Geechee, she is inspired to begin writing. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Steenburgen, Rip Torn, (more)
