“[…] Life presents challenges and is unfair.” It is difficult to disagree. Life is the most precious gift we receive from God. It has no price; it may be short, long, crazy or peaceful, but it always possesses enormous value. Not only for ourselves. With every movement and gesture, word and deed, we fill the lives of the people around us. We give them the meaning that is so necessary in order to live.
Although this has become a little sentimental, I think I can wholeheartedly recommend to you an extraordinary story, this time a fictional one, told in a beautiful, emotional way. It is an excellent film for a long autumn evening. “Fathers and Daughters” (2015) is where the words above come from—words that have stayed with me so strongly. I think they are not the only ones.
Reviews are generally like this: although they should be objective, they usually are not. Well... life is unfair. It is difficult to write something, create any work, express one’s own message and not give in to emotions. The film I recommend to you is the quintessence of emotion. It is not just some tearjerker. Another Hollywood drama, one of many. It is the true story of a father’s love (Russell Crowe) for his daughter (Kylie Rogers/Amanda Seyfried) and his struggle with illness. And as if that were not enough, the director (Gabriele Muccino) explores problems of human nature, the absence of love, hatred, fear and emptiness.
The film’s main theme is illness. Russell Crowe plays Jake Davies—a father and a successful writer with problems. His main concern is a serious condition that he fights with all his strength. As a writer, he tries to convey his feelings to the reader as well as possible. Unfortunately, unfavorable reviews cause the former brilliance of the Pulitzer Prize winner to fade gradually. Problems appear on the horizon. The person he asks for help in a difficult situation decides to take away his beloved Katie. An extraordinary struggle begins. Not only for his daughter’s fate, but also for his own identity as a writer. The hard, laborious work on a new book becomes not only a means of improving his finances, but above all a challenge that brings various consequences in life.
“Fathers and Daughters” is a wonderful drama with beautiful music and excellent acting performances. Russell Crowe, already mentioned, needs no introduction. This outstanding actor has repeatedly proved that he can deliver phenomenal performances.
Amanda Seyfried also performed excellently. In Muccino’s film, she plays the older Katie. The film is divided in terms of time. Frequent flashbacks and the interweaving of contemporary storylines are extremely interesting. In this way, the director shows how greatly her relationship with her beloved father influenced Miss Davies’s adult life. Amanda Seyfried is known for films such as “Mamma Mia!” and “Letters to Juliet”.
Good cinema cannot do without villains. In this case, we are dealing with a soft type of villain. Katie’s uncle William (played by Bruce Greenwood) is not entirely well-defined. On the one hand, he tries to be Jake’s friend, but his hidden resentment clearly casts him in a bad light. Greenwood, like his fellow cast members, acted very well.
However, so that everything is not too rosy, I must also mention the negative reviews I came across. I paid particular attention to one of them, found on the Filmweb portal. Well, the reviewer considered the film very bad (a rating of 2/10). What was the main reason? Emotional blackmail. In the author’s opinion, the film forces the viewer to feel compassion, plays on emotions, and the actors do not play their roles but howl, flaunting an excess of emotion. The film is available on the Ipla service and on DVD.
In my humble opinion, all the accusations against “Fathers and Daughters” are its strengths, not its weaknesses. Every film is meant to evoke specific emotions. If that were not the case, would there be any point in making films? Moreover, drama has its own rules. It is difficult for such cinema to make us laugh until we cry, although this film also contains many humorous scenes. After all, life is not made up solely of worries...
“Fathers and Daughters” is a film about ourselves. About our weaknesses—and we have many of them. We often struggle with them. Yet this struggle takes the form of denying what is bad, what we fear. We often lie to ourselves that things are not so bad. That it will pass, that things will get better. Jake Davies is also afraid to look the truth in the eye. Will he lose? Has everything he believed in been wasted?
There is only one way to find out. You absolutely have to watch this film. It is worth learning the story of an extraordinary father and overcoming your own fears together with him.
Paweł Skiersinis
The author is a blogger and a history enthusiast, particularly interested in the history of Lower Silesia and Poland. Why Lower Silesia? As he says: “Why not? The most interesting history is the history around us, concerning ourselves and our ancestors.”
He adds: “I try to present history from a different perspective, in an interesting way—not in the typical textbook style, full of dry dates and facts. The articles I present concern facts that we will not find in textbooks and well-known publications. The history of Lower Silesia is undoubtedly interesting and fascinating, so it is worth devoting at least a brief moment to it from time to time.”