For ag movie lovers, there’s a nice post at Bill’s Movie News and Reviews about the National Archives, which on Saturday hosted an environmental film festival “For a Better America: The New Deal on Film.”
Bill reviews the films and provides links, including for one that I’d like to see, “Power and the Land” (1940, RKO Radio / U.S. Film Service, Rural Electrification Administration, dir. Joris Ivens, written and narrated by Stephen Vincent Benet, 39 min).
Bill notes that:
The film traces the life of a farm family of five, the Parkinsons, in southwestern Ohio. The countryside is quite hilly and looks like the western edge of Appalachia. The film shows all of the daily tasks or chores on the farm before electricity: the boys sharpen equipment with a foot-pedal lever; the wife washes and irons clothes by hand, and great attention is paid to cooling milk.
Sounds like a fascinating snapshot of rural family life and an interesting look at gender roles.
Other films at the festival include, “The Plow that Broke the Plains” (check out the YouTube clip) and “The River.”
Virtual Farmgirl 