When
President Franklin Roosevelt promised rural electrification,
his pledge was fulfilled, albeit slowly. But what of those
displaced to make way for hydropower projects (and recreation
lakes) to bring electricity to every part of America? Northfork attempts to tell one such story about Northfork, a mythical
small town in Montana that was inundated in 1955. The film
begins with a casket suddenly emerging from the waters,
piquing the attention of filmviewers to learn the story
behind the coffin that came out of the blue. Next, the
future dam is dedicated in a ceremony during 1953. But
the project must first evict residents in 65 homes who
came from Europe with valuable household possessions, promising
them 1.25 acres of lakeside property when the dam is completed.
Six men are assigned the task of facilitating the evictions,
and of course some residents obstinately refuse to move.
The plot, in short, is rather simple, one that ordinarily
would provide a compassionate story. Instead, director
Michael Polish embarks on surrealism. Men in black suits
and hats, obviously dressed as undertakers, comb the town
in black cars to "help" residents move out; if
they can fulfill their quota, they will receive an extra
quarter-acre of lakefront property. Some residents will
not move until they receive a "sign from heaven" to
do so, though they do not cite a "sign from heaven" that
prompted them to move to Northfork in the first place.
But the most surreal aspect of the plot centers on Irwin
(played by Duel Farnes), a four-year-old boy, whom the
local pastor, Father Harlan (played by Nick Nolte), recently
allowed a family to adopt. The parents return the boy,
who claims to be an angel, saying that he was sick when
they got him and that now he is too sick to leave Northfork.
Another prospective couple later arrives with an interest
in adopting the boy, but they demur when Harlan, who knows
that the boy is dying, tells them they have to agree to
adopt the boy before they meet him. Presumably, filmviewers
are supposed to see in both stories an American Gothic
paradigm, but they are unlikely to make that connection,
since style unfortunately eclipses substance and any moral
about the price of progress is lost in a reverie that almost
pretends to be theological.
MH
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