The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)

From Netflix:

With 10 children to feed, postwar Ohio housewife Evelyn Ryan (Julianne Moore) has gotten used to being resourceful, stretching her husband’s meager salary to the limit. But when clipping coupons won’t cut it, she’s forced to rely on her creativity and enters a jingle-writing contest for extra income. Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern co-star in this uncommon comedy-drama based on a heartwarming memoir by Ryan’s daughter, Terry.

No, it is not treacle, but possibly hard for a child to watch. This is supposedly a true story based on a memoir written by a daughter. It is hard to believe that the wife could support the 10 kids by consistently winning contests, but I’ll go along with the joke. Sadly, the reason she has to bring in winnings is that her husband, believably played by Woody Harrelson, is a mean drunk. More accurately, his heart is in the right place when he is sober, but each night he consumes a 6-pack of beer and a pint of whiskey and goes on rampages. He also secretly takes out a second mortgage on their home and spends all the money. It is also hard to believe that all the kids didn’t hate him. But through it all the wife just smiles and maintains her role as shining example (that detail was a bit hard to swallow).

If nothing else, this film is a piece of post-WWII cultural history. Women stayed home. A woman would never vote for a woman president. After one of the husband’s rampages, their Catholic priest comes to counsel the wife and tells her she will just have to try harder. As the priest leaves, one of the children says “The priest’s breath smells just like daddy’s breath”.

If you start to watch the film, just don’t be put off by the beginning. Julianne Moore peppers the entire film with little jingles she has created. It seems so corny that I almost gave up. But in the end I was glad I watched the entire film. And if you do stick with it, do NOT miss the credits because they tell you what happened in real life to each of the 10 children.

Finally, have you or any of your children ever seen anyone in an iron lung ?

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