The Friendly Persuasion - The Movie

The boys and I watched The Friendly Persuasion starring Gary Cooper this past week. We really enjoyed the book by the same title, but the movie was a disappointment.

The book is a series of short stories first published in Harper's Bazaar and other journal type magazines back in the 40's. The author meant the tale to be a lifetime of snapshots of various family members, but primarily that of Jess and Eliza Birdwell...again, over a lifetime. (Not strictly during the Civil War, as was portrayed in this movie.)

The movie focused on the Quaker's belief of resolving problems with non violence. While this was a noble attempt, it lacked the depth of the book. This was probably unavoidable considering the time constraints of a two hour movie. On the other hand, the book focused on the beliefs of Quakers as well has their human natures and how they were strengthened and grown over a lifetime of living while trying to follow God.

The movie was entertaining but shallow and lacked the credibility of the book. The book enabled the reader to fall in love with the characters and grew a desire to understand them while sharing in their struggles and triumphs.