Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women
RSS-- School Library Journal, 02/02/2010
From the February issue
Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. DVD. 1:24 hrs. Nancy Porter Prods. 2009. $69.95.
Gr 7 Up–Harriet Reisen’s fine script and Nancy Porter’s vivid production combine to treat viewers to a visually rich, well-paced, and intimate view of Louisa May Alcott’s life. The story unfolds in well-paced dramatized vignettes, excellent scholarly commentary, clips from the original film of Little Women, and readings from Alcott’s personal letters and from her biographer, Ednah Cheney, played with a marvelous, spine-cracking correctness by Jane Alexander. Elizabeth Marvel deftly portrays the clever and determined Louisa. Daniel Gerroll and Dossy Peabody play her parents, Amos Bronson and Abigail Alcott, with conviction and pathos. Few details are spared in the portrayal of the family’s sinking fortunes at the hands of the family patriarch, transcendentalist, and failed Utopian. Louisa’s determination to provide for her family is inspirational and courageous, as for most of her short life, she struggled with poor health. The connections within the Alcott family and the Transcendentalist community are fascinating and complex, particularly in view of the rigid social expectations of the American Victorian era. Louisa exemplifies the contradictions and hypocrisies of reality versus image, as she makes a good living for her destitute family by writing pulp fiction for newspapers and magazines. The commentaries by world-renowned journalist/novelist Geraldine Brooks are engaging and insightful. The lesson plan and timeline for grades 6 to 12 is detailed and very useful. This seamlessly paced historical saga of the revered American author is inspirational.–Roxanne Spencer, Western Kentucky University Libraries, Bowling Green
