Review of The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005) by Claire H — 30 Jun 2009

I was hoping this would be a nice "feel good" movie, however, I came away from watching this film feeling disgust and sadness. My feeling is that this movie isn't so much about the Prize Winner (Evelyn Ryan)as it is about the daughter's disgust with her alchoholic father and about the father himself.

Most of the scenes are really about the father. It's strange. I felt compassion for the father and dislike for Evelyn Ryan, the mother. It seemed as though the mother was a large part of the father's problem.

This movie may be based on a true story, however it seems to me that it is really a distorted idea of a child's (the daughter's) view of what happened and her hate for her father. At the end the audiance gets a very quick glance at the Ryan children as they are at the time of the making of this movie.

I got the distinct feeling that none of them really wanted to be a part of this movie. Really, as much as we may have anger at our parent's faults and shortcomings, who really wants to see their parent portrayed that way on a giant movie screen? I just feel so sad for the father in this movie.

I was also freaked by the Catholic priest in the movie. For cryin' out loud! They made the priest look like a stupid idiot! I'm a woman, but I feel like men are always getting a bad wrap in movies and television.