Peace Doesn't Get Much of a Chance in "August: Osage County"

Watching an excellent ensemble cast working together in a film can be as satisfying as listening to a band or an orchestra working together to create a wonderful piece of music or watching an outstanding football team work together to win a game. In “August: Osage County,” director John Wells (“The Company Men,” Showtime’s “Shameless”) has assembled a brilliant ensemble cast to tell, admittedly, a story with a familiar set of circumstances involving a rural Oklahoma family and their secrets involving love, hate, pain, misery, all that fun stuff. The film is written by Tracy Letts, based on his Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play.

At first, seeing this film did not appeal to me. I was not interested in watching a movie about a “dysfunctional” family full of quirky, but lovable, people who all get along and love each other despite each other’s quirks. Fortunately, this is not the type of scenario created in this film. The playing of Eric Clapton's, "Lay Down Sally" during the opening credits made me feel even more tretipatious about my decision to see this movie. This song, when used in films, is usually used to direct the audience's attention to the fact that we are in the South. It's a song stereotype. It sounds country and twangy, so it is used oftentimes in films that take place in the South. I lost a little lifeforce. It turns out, however, that this song plays a role not only in the final scene, a powerhouse moment in the film, but throughout not just as soundtrack filler.
In “August: Osage County,” most of the characters are hateful, angry, mean, bitter, profane, deceitful, just all around unpleasant people. Normally, this might be something I would have no interest in seeing, however, the fantastic cast pulls this material together to make a thoroughly watchable and compelling tale of a family full of secrets and hate, created, as we find out early in the film by matriarch Violet Weston (Meryl Streep in a brilliant performance), in large part due to her reliance on prescription medication. It is no secret that an overuse of prescription medication, especially when not closely monitored by one’s physician, can lead to serious mental health issues. Violet appears to be, especially when “in rare form,” under the influence of many medications which influence her body chemistry.
I say all of this about prescription medication and its effect on one’s mind to emphasize that I do not think that the character of Violet is, at her core, a horrible person, but, rather, is under the influence most of the time of the cocktail of drugs she is taking and her addiction to said drugs. I don’t think the film addresses this issue as much as I just have in these last few sentences, however, it must be addressed so as not to dismiss the character of Violet as just a mean, old bitch who hates everyone. Whatever Letts wants the viewer to think of Violet, Meryl Streep gives an outstanding performance in the role and owns every scene she is in.

Not to be overlooked is the performance of Julia Roberts as Violet’s daughter, Barbara Weston. Barbara, her husband from whom she is separated (Ewan McGregor), and some other members of the family gather at the beginning of the film to attend the funeral of the patriarch of the family, Beverly Weston (I know. Beverly is usually a female name, but just go with it). Beverly passes away so the family gathers at his and Violet’s home in Osage County, Oklahoma to pay their respects. Beverly is played very nicely by Sam Shepard. The remainder of the film consists of learning about the other characters, the burdens they keep inside, the anger they feel, and the way they deal with their burdens and anger.
For some, this may be an uncomfortable movie to watch, however, I was compelled throughout by the wonderful performances, not only by Streep and Roberts, but also by Julianne Nicholson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Cooper, and Juliette Lewis. Not one false note is hit by any of the performers in the film as they create characters that are not necessarily pleasant, but do remain interesting.
The uncomfortableness one may feel in watching “August: Osage County” is similar to the way one may feel watching a David Mamet play, or a film based on one of his works, films like “Oleanna” (1994) and “Glengarry Glen Ross” (1992). Check out these two films if you have not already. In “Oleanna,” you watch a college professor and his student in an ever-intensifying discussion about a grade the student received. One may not instantly seek out this film, and it would be difficult to talk most into seeing this film from my description of it, however, the passion of the performances in that film, as with the passion of the performances in “Glengarry” and Terry Letts’ film herein discussed in this review, make these films completely worth your time. Something else that helps this film is the fact that the anger inside some of the characters is legitimate feelings of mental anguish, not petty arguments, but tangible issues with which one may be able to relate. The characters in the film do not just throw insults at each other for the sake of cheap laughs. The emotions in the film are not at all contrived or cheaply written.
One word of warning should you decide to see this film: “August: Osage County” is not a quirky, folksy “Steel Magnolias”/”Fried Green Tomatoes”-esque slice of life, feel-good movie. The only way one may feel good is the way I described having felt good having watched great actors give brilliant performances. I remained interested in the story the film presents throughout. The performances in “August: Osage County” and the fact that, despite the resentment and bitterness most of the characters feel, and the conveyance of these emotions onscreen, are so well done, making this one of my favorite films of 2013. I am a sucker for films with strongly written characters and a reliance on script and character development over effects and other tricks that filmmakers sometimes use to disguise the fact that they have nothing interesting prepared. "August: Osage County is entertaining and soulful in its anger and bitterness, an anger and bitterness that will leave a positive film-going impression on me.