Review of Off the Map (2003) by Andrew L — 07 May 2010

This is a period piece that captures a slice of America's great cultural experiment of the 60's/70's in an understated, honest story. It is a subtle tale whose muted tones reflect the sculpted pastel sweep of the New Mexico landscape it is set in. The pace is slow and contemplative, which was the entire purpose of the back to the earth movement. But the performances are authentic enough that it is as much anthropology as drama.

Which is not to say it is dull. It isn't. I was sucked in from the outset. There is more going on in this movie than most films. A strong, charismatic man (played with remarkable restraint by Sam Eliot) is laid low by depression. His wife (Joan Allen) is unwaveringly patient, carrying on with the burden of providing while he is frozen within his malaise. Part Native American, she possesses a fragile beauty but is resolute and deeply grounded in pagan spirituality. Their twelve-year-old daughter (Valentina de Angelis) is bursting with youthful zeal as she begins her transition to womanhood. Irrepressible and precocious, she is isolated in the world of nature and adults.

For reasons that only a federal bureaucracy could plumb, the IRS decides to audit these economic minimalists. The Feds send a rookie auditor into the wilds of New Mexico to hunt down and persecute these hippies who have the audacity to deny the government millstone the grist of their lives. After days of wandering lost, the agent (Jim True-Frost) stumbles upon the homestead while the wife stands naked in the garden. He is stricken first by her beauty, then the family's, finally by the stark splendor of the landscape. He never goes back to the IRS.

There is so much in this story that many of the audience may miss while waiting for something exciting to happen. This movie is not about thrills. Its about beauty and integrity. It is about a great experiment in our culture that is still underway.