The Outsider: book and movie
Aug. 12th, 2011 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
birdienlMontana, mid 19th century: when the recently widowed Rachel Yoder and her 10 year old son Benjo feed their flock of sheep on a winter morning, a stranger stumbles onto their yard. The stranger, Johnny Cain, was dangerously wounded in a gunfight. Rachel, who belongs to the Amish community, takes the man into her home and nurses him back to health and subsequently hires him to work on her farm during the summer. Her behaviour is frowned upon by her family and the other members of the community. But despite their vastly different lives and values, Rachel and Johnny grow attracted to each other and Rachel might have to make the most difficult choice of her life.
Penelope Williamson, author of over a dozen historical romances and thrillers, wrote The Outsider in 1996. In 2002, the book was adapted into a movie for Hallmark, starring well-known actors Naomi Watts as Rachel and Tim Daly as Johnny. I watched the movie for the first time a few years ago (and rewatched often since), but I didn't get to reading to book until recently. I would recommend both the novel and its adaptation to everyone who loves historical romance.
Though the story line might not be very original, there are things which lift this tale above any average historical romance. For the novel this is definitely the prose. It's rich and describes not only the feelings of the main characters, but also the everyday life on the sheep farm and in the Amish community extensively, without dragging. And I'm saying this even though I read the novel in a Dutch translation. That means something, because usually the prose suffers from translation.
The novel is written in third-person, but the story is told mainly through the eyes of Rachel. She is a great character to identify with. Even though her 19th century, Plain life might be very different from ours, her growing feelings for Johnny, her doubts and dilemmas are described in such a way we, as readers can all say 'what would I do when in such a situation?' The downside of the emphasis placed on Rachel's point of view is the fact we see little of the inner life of Johnny. The desperado Johnny hàs changed at the end of both the novel and the movie, but how this has taken place, what inner struggles have preceded this change, is unclear to the reader or viewer.
As an added bonus there is the setting of the story. As I already mentioned, in the book the everyday life and struggles of a sheep farmer plays a large role, which brings in interesting information for history lovers. As Johnny learns the ropes of the trade from lambing to shearing to summer grazing, we learn with him. The lifelihood of the sheep farming Amish community is threatened by a rich cattle farmer who wants their grazing lands for himself. This adds an undercurrent of tension to the main romantic story.
I also learned something else from The Outsider. I've read many Amish novels by authors such as Beverly Lewis and Wanda Brunstetter. These mainly take place in the 20th or 21th century. Amish are often described in current media as 'a religious group who lives as in the 19th century'. The Outsider takes place in the 19th century (it's not clear when exactly), but even there you can see the Plain people are already a vastly different group compared to the rest of society. Though there are no dilemmas like cars, electricity and phones to deal with in 19th century Montana, the Plain distinguish themselves by their style of clothes, housing and religious ceremonies. It really does enforce admiration that a group has kept themselves apart from society for so long already!
Penelope Williamson, author of over a dozen historical romances and thrillers, wrote The Outsider in 1996. In 2002, the book was adapted into a movie for Hallmark, starring well-known actors Naomi Watts as Rachel and Tim Daly as Johnny. I watched the movie for the first time a few years ago (and rewatched often since), but I didn't get to reading to book until recently. I would recommend both the novel and its adaptation to everyone who loves historical romance.
Though the story line might not be very original, there are things which lift this tale above any average historical romance. For the novel this is definitely the prose. It's rich and describes not only the feelings of the main characters, but also the everyday life on the sheep farm and in the Amish community extensively, without dragging. And I'm saying this even though I read the novel in a Dutch translation. That means something, because usually the prose suffers from translation.
The novel is written in third-person, but the story is told mainly through the eyes of Rachel. She is a great character to identify with. Even though her 19th century, Plain life might be very different from ours, her growing feelings for Johnny, her doubts and dilemmas are described in such a way we, as readers can all say 'what would I do when in such a situation?' The downside of the emphasis placed on Rachel's point of view is the fact we see little of the inner life of Johnny. The desperado Johnny hàs changed at the end of both the novel and the movie, but how this has taken place, what inner struggles have preceded this change, is unclear to the reader or viewer.
What makes the movie The Outsider more than just a mediocre Hallmark romance, is the acting. Though I'm normally not a big fan of Naomi Watts, she's perfect for the character of Rachel. Both her vulnerability and her inner strenght are very well acted. I had never noticed Tim Daly in anything before The Outsider, but he is a very good choice to play Johnny. His Johnny is independent-before-everything, but with just a hint of warmth added to make him more sympathetic and interesting. An honorable mention goes to Thomas Curtis, the 11 year old actor playing Rachel's son Benjo. He is really convincing as the stuttering and shy boy, you almost suspect he used to stutter himself!
As an added bonus there is the setting of the story. As I already mentioned, in the book the everyday life and struggles of a sheep farmer plays a large role, which brings in interesting information for history lovers. As Johnny learns the ropes of the trade from lambing to shearing to summer grazing, we learn with him. The lifelihood of the sheep farming Amish community is threatened by a rich cattle farmer who wants their grazing lands for himself. This adds an undercurrent of tension to the main romantic story.
I also learned something else from The Outsider. I've read many Amish novels by authors such as Beverly Lewis and Wanda Brunstetter. These mainly take place in the 20th or 21th century. Amish are often described in current media as 'a religious group who lives as in the 19th century'. The Outsider takes place in the 19th century (it's not clear when exactly), but even there you can see the Plain people are already a vastly different group compared to the rest of society. Though there are no dilemmas like cars, electricity and phones to deal with in 19th century Montana, the Plain distinguish themselves by their style of clothes, housing and religious ceremonies. It really does enforce admiration that a group has kept themselves apart from society for so long already!
As with all adaptations, there are differences betwee the novel and the movie. I would say I like the novel better, it's more complete and you get to know the characters better. Though I thought the ending of the movie a little bit more powerfull, because SPOILERS in the movie Johnny himself throws his gun away, while in the book it is Benjo who does this for him END OF SPOILERS. For some reason, the names of the main characters have been changed in the movie. Rachel becomes Rebecca and Johnny Cain is Johnny Gault. This may seem trivial, if it weren't for the special meaning Johnny's last name has in the book (comparing him to Cain from the Bible). There are some secondary storylines in the novel, about the family of the large cattle farmer, the town doctor and the unlikely friendship between a whore and a Plain boy. These storylines have been cut almost entirely from the movie, but I didn't think this was a problem, because they didn't work very well in the book. The storylines were too fleeting. Another thing which has been cut from the movie and which I díd miss was the story Johnny told Rachel about his youth. This delivers some necessary background to Johnny's character and could easily have been incorporated in the movie.
