Stanley (Cusack) is proud that his wife Grace is serving in the US Armed Forces, so when he hears that she's been killed in action, he's left utterly lost. He can't bring himself to tell their daughters, 12-year-old Heidi (O'Keefe) and 8-year-old Dawn (Bednarczyk), so he uproots them to drive across country on a spur-of-the-moment vacation. Is he trying to give them one last good memory before their lives are changed forever? Or is he merely putting off the inevitable? Whichever it is, Heidi knows something's up.

Cusack has never played a role like this, and it's a revelation to see him as this mild-mannered everyman struggling to come to grips with the tragic truth while trying to offer assurance to his daughters (and himself). It's a sensitive, quietly detailed performance that's never showy and only offers a couple of powerful glimpses beneath the surface, but also makes the most of Cusack's superior comic timing. Virtually every scene erupts with the rhythms of real life--raw, earthy humour and revealing character interaction.

O'Keefe as the inquisitive Heidi and Bednarczyk as the life-loving Dawn are simply amazing in complex roles that require a whole range of reactions and emotions. In many ways the film is about these girls and their observations and expressions, as reflected in the eyes of their dad. So as Stanley goes through the denial, fear and anger of grief, we are pulled right into each situation these three travellers experience.

By telling such an intensely personal story with wit and bite, Strouse is able to address the contentious politics at gut level, so we experience this drama firsthand. Whatever someone believes ideologically melts away in the face of this kind of humanity, right to the painful, hard truth. "We have to believe that we're doing the right thing," Stanley says of the war, or maybe about himself. It doesn't really matter, because it rings so true that it both hurts and offers hope at the same time.

themes, language

26.Oct.07 lff