2013 | PG-13 | 1h 41m | Drama, Family, History
The film begins in 1954, when 95-year-old Christmas Moultrie (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is talking with middle-aged friend Jack Cay (Bradley Whitford). Moultrie relates some of the trials, tribulations, and triumphs he shared with his best friend Ward Allen via flashback decades earlier, which forms most of the movie.
Both Ward Allen (Jim Caviezel) and Moultrie were born during the mid-1800s and came from completely different worlds. Allen was born into a life of wealth and privilege. His father John Elliot Ward owned a plantation in Savannah, Georgia, but died when Allen was only 10 years old. Although Allen was the sole heir to the plantation, he sought out the much simpler life of duck hunter.
Moultrie, on the other hand, was the last child born in slavery in Savannah at another plantation located there. By the time he and Allen became duck-hunting buddies, he’d already been freed from slavery but still endured some of the endemic racism that lingered afterward.
Allen and Moultrie are quite the dynamic duo, trading quips back and forth as they launch their rowboat out onto the Savannah River just before dawn, and then sitting silent among the reeds until the first ducks take flight. They stand in unison and fire their rifles at the ducks, and as the flights of fowl fall into the water, Allen’s trusty dog swims out to retrieve the carcasses.
The two have formed a market hunting business together and sell their little duckies at local businesses. However, duck hunting has been sharply curtailed by law, and the men sometimes get busted for their fowl-slaying forays.
Fortunately for them, Allen has quite the gift of gab. And with his Oxford-educated vocabulary and command of the classics (from which he often quotes), he manages to get them off with a mere slap on the wrist after he charms local judge Harden (Hal Holbrook).
Somewhat of a loner, Allen keeps bumping into Lucy Stubbs (Jaimie Alexander), a pretty young socialite. Each time, they seem to be more and more attracted to each other—although Allen keeps his distance. And that’s fine by her father, Mr. Stubbs (Sam Shepard), who considered Allen’s rough-hewn, skallywag ways to be unsuitable for his daughter. Of course, this only makes her want Allen more, so when the two fall for each other and decide to get married, that isn’t too popular with daddy.
On their wedding night, the newly minted Mrs. Allen wakes up to hearing her husband riding up and down the streets outside of their new home in Savannah, while shooting his pistol into the air and waking up the neighbors. This is when we see the first signs of trouble, namely, Allen’s propensity for getting highly drunk and causing ruckuses.
Some time later, Allen and Moultrie have warning shots fired at them when their boat trespasses onto an ornery neighbor’s property during one of their duck-hunting exploits. Moultrie becomes upset when Allen doesn’t acknowledge that the neighbor, had Allen not been present, was fixing to shoot him because he’s black. As a result, a rift forms between them.
This is around the time (the beginning of the second act onward) that I realized that this wasn’t as light and Hallmark-y as I thought it might be. There’s some real grit here, told well through excellent writing and deft delivery by top-drawer actors.
What could have come off as a lackadaisically rendered historical drama with a fuzzy, rose-tinted portrayal of Ward Allen, instead seemed more like a complex tale about a complex man. This is in no small part to Mr. Caviezel, who surprised me by turning in his unusual “quiet storm” type of stoicism as an intellectual wild man who could charm the skin off a snake. It’s the kind of performance that makes one want to further investigate the real-life trials, triumphs, and tribulations of Allen, and the turbulent times he lived in.
The supporting cast also hits all the right marks, with Jaimie Alexander turning in a convincing performance as Allen’s conflicted love interest. Mr. Ejiofor is likewise game as Allen’s loyal friend who keeps his dignity in the face of adversity.
“Savannah” is a beautifully shot film with lots of incredible natural scenery. It’s also a well-told movie that has to do with friendships across color lines, something that was a lot more common in the Old South than most Hollywood productions would have you believe.
