Simply A Masterpiece

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Resurrection is one of the most moving films I have seen in some time. However, the original had a different ending than the DVD version that came out afterwards. To this day I cannot comprehend what was in the mind of any producer to make this change.The original film ending as presented on TV shows Edna hugging the boy goodbye before the family left, but it was more of holding him close as her healing energy was passing from her into the boy.From his expression as the family drives away, he and Edna wave goodbye to each other, and you know that he would be well again soon, and Edna would go back back to her simple life.The DVD version changed that powerful ending to one where Edna simply holds the boy and the camera freeze frames her face as the credits roll.Why this crude destruction of the original is beyond me. If anyone is lucky or able to find the original, somehow put word of it out there because I have not been able to find a copy.

Amazingly well acted film with Ellen Burstyn giving what could be a career best performance. Part of the power of her performance and the film is that she portrays a very normal woman thrust by circumstance into an extraordinary situation. Her Edna is presented in small touches with a few chances to dazzle us thrown in. Usually when one performer is so strong the rest of the cast tends to be overshadowed, such is not the case here. Lois Smith, Roberts Blossom, Richard Farnsworth and Sam Shepard all create wonderfully realized characters but the absolute scene stealer is Eva Le Galliene as the grandmother. A legend of the Broadway stage it is a pity she did not start working in film regularly until old age. Her rendering of an old farm woman is a thing of beauty in the realness and truth she brings to her. Her interactions with Ellen Burstyn are lovely and heartbreaking. The story of being touched with special powers after a brush with death is intriguing but would be unmemorable without this cast who make it so compelling. The ending is perfect. Highly recommended.

No spoiler here, but when Esco Brown lays his hand on Edna's head as he gives her his admonitions when she has barely met him (fairly early in the film), could anyone be surprised that the end of the movie shows her in that same scenario, ministering to those who need it as they happen in to the "service" station? The postcard that was shown in the last scene left no doubt that there was a connection between Esco and Edna. The inscription: "Hi, Edna. I made it!" (referring to Esco's stated dream of visiting an exotic locale in South America.) He had no doubts, and it was a beautiful culmination for Esco's character. The name of the station..."Last Chance" was oxymoronic. Some commenters have cast aspersions on the Sam Shepard character (Cal) as being unnecessary. However, Burstyn's agnostic character fairly demanded a Bible quoting antagonist who was more connected to Edna Mae than his more vocal father character (Earl) could have ever been. Hence...Cal is integral to creating conflict in the plot because the disagreements between Edna and her father could not have realistically been developed to that same dramatic level.The most unbelievable scene (to me) was when the hemophiliac girl's mother allowed Edna to hold the girl and unexpectedly heal the nosebleed despite the doctor's pronouncement that the little girl needed immediate transportation to treatment. This anomaly could have been dealt with by a mere juxtaposition of the timing of dialog, but the effect was dramatic as they left it.Edna's gift? Where did it come from? She explained it as she saw it. She wasn't sure (hence my term "agnostic" in the first paragraph.) However, she consistently alluded to a "higher power" even though she couldn't or wouldn't ascribe a name to that power. All she would say is "I offer it to you in the name of Love." Is Esco's sign on the wall of the "Last Chance" ("God is love and versa vice") the theme of this movie? Hmmm.Obviously I loved this movie. A spiritual uplifting. Perhaps it didn't receive popular acclaim is because it deals with phenomena that many of us have not seen with our own eyes.Fiction? Maybe.

There are many scenes in this movie that moved me to tears. I do sort of wish the main character had sided with God as the reason for her talents. She never said it wasn't God though. I really enjoyed this film. Watch for the scenes in which Burstyn's character heals the twisted form of on woman in front of disbelievers and the viewers own eyes. The scene in the end of the film with a little boy having cancer unattended briefly in his car is also moving. This movie made me recall parts of Elmer Gantry for some reason while I was watching. I am glad that Burstyn chose not to make it in the vein of The Exorcist but more uplifting and spiritual. I cannot believe at this time its not out on DVD. What are the producers and DVD makers waiting for?