Strangers in Good Company
                Reviewed by Linda Lopez McAlister
            For The Women's Show, WMNF-FM, Tampa, FL


    A few weeks ago I sat in a movie theater and saw a film with an
all woman cast called "Eating" that used elements of the actors own
lives and experience to make the film seem real.  It struck me
ultimately as a very misogynistic film.   This week I sat in the
very same theater and saw another film with an all woman cast that
also uses elements of the "actors" own lives and experiences
resulting in one of the most truthful and most woman-loving films
I have ever seen.  The film is "Strangers in Good Company" and you
must see it, if not in a theater then when it comes out on video.

     This film, directed by Cynthia Scott and written by a team of
four screenwriter including Scott and Gloria Demers, who died
before the film was finished, is yet another of the fine works
brought to us courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada.  It is
a low-budget labor of love, and a minor masterpiece.  The plot is
simplicity itself.  The opening shot has a group of old women
trudging slowly and wearily across the fields.  Who are they?
What's happening?  Soon we find out that they are relative
strangers--perhaps from a senior citizens's center somewhere in
Toronto?--on a day's outing in an old school bus.  One of them has
suggested that they take a detour to go see the house where her
family spent summers when she was a child over 80 years before.
Twenty miles or so off the main road the bus breaks down.  When the
bus driver, the only young woman in the group, gets out to try to
fix it she trips and sprains her ankle.  They're stuck.  While one
woman tries to fix the bus and another one stays on it, the rest of
the group walk on to the abandoned old house.  They scavenge
through sheds and find some abandoned implements so they can carry
water, cut tall grass to make sleeping mats, and settle in.  As
they spend first one and then two nights in this place they learn
one another's life stories, their strengths and fears, their joys
and tears. And we do too.

   The women in the film are not professional actors, and they use
their own names in the film as we delve into their life stories
which are enhanced with still photographs of them as children and
younger adults, completely blurring the borders between fiction and
reality, even more so than was done in "Eating."  But with far
different results.

    Every frame of this film is shot with love and respect for the
lives of these women.  They treat one another with kindness, they
take pleasure in one another's company, they have tremendous
respect for one another and for the diverse roads they have
travelled through life.  Some have been wealthy, some very poor.
One is a Mohawk woman, the bus driver is a young black
woman. Two were originally from England, the others are Canadian
born. One is a nun, one is a lesbian, some take joy in their
children and grandchildren, some grieve the loss of their children.
One survived a terrible stroke and lived through the WWII bombing
of London.  During their enforced residence in this remote place
they dance, they sing, they play cards, they do calisthenics, they
find ingenious ways to find food, and they talk to one another
about things that matter in their lives.

     Ultimately one of the most able-bodied member of the group
makes the long walk to the main highway and brings help and they
leave as they came, trudging slowly across the fields.  And we
leave in utter amazement at this simple, beautiful film that makes
you feel so good because it loves women's lives so much.

   The title again is "Strangers in Good Company" and I hope that it
is still playing in this area when you read this.  If not, keep
your eyes open for it on video.  It is a joy.

    For the WMNF Women's Show this is Linda Lopez McAlister on
Women and Film.