Little Women

What’s the Story?

LITTLE WOMEN is not so much about what happens to the March family as about who they are. Their parties, meals, chores, games, romances are hardly high drama but, through individual personalities, they illustrate the highest human values: love, family, selflessness, loyalty. Known to be innovative thinkers, the Marches -- as one character observes -- had "views."

Is It Any Good?

Acting upon those views in day-to-day life, the girls capture our attention and, more, stir our souls. Excited about such holiday luxuries as a bit of butter and an orange, they give them up to feed an even poorer family. The gifted Claire Danes delivers a touching, very real, portrayal as Beth. When she dies, it's painful and viewers share the family's loss. Likewise, the climactic reunion between Jo and her professor is deeply moving. Rarely is such a low-key movie so uplifting. Meaning springs from the unaffected performances, the believable tensions among the sisters, the realistic contrast of their varied goals, and forthright, simple statements of authentically virtuous character. Lovely settings frame the story perfectly.

No pretense is made about the purity of the world in which the Marches live. As women, they confront and cope with second-class status, especially the free-thinking Jo. But society's flaws just reinforce the integrity the Marches bring to it. For a breath of fresh air that's anything but old-fashioned, choose Little Women.