Word: holt
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...first half a mile, were just walking, trying hard to be able to move at all," said Katharine M. Holt '02, who finished the race in about four hours and 15 minutes...
...film's most distracting element, Jewel, playing the sweet widow Sue Lee Shelley, appears later in the film when Roedel, Chiles, and Holt move to a dugout to wait away the winter. Jewel is surprisingly good at engaging in dialogue, yet she visibly shies away from the camera when she finishes her lines. Lee quickly establishes a romantic relationship between Shelley and Chiles, who sires a child before dying in a federal raid on the dugout. Chiles death scene is sickeningly melodramatic as Roedel and Holt first attempt to amputate Chiles' diseased arm, only to realize that Chiles' death...
...Chiles' death provides the needed pause to prevent the plot and historical subtext from spinning out of control. Lee, who has forgotten about Holt's unique story until now, quickly exploits the uneasy relationship between Southern white women and black male slaves. He also finally allows Holt to express his desire for freedom. Similarly, a Bushwacker sympathizer reveals why he believes the North will win, "They fight because they believe everyone should have liberty and freedom. We fight because we care about ourselves." Lee deserves credit for addressing this astute evaluation of the Civil...
...spring approaches, the film seems to grow longer and longer. Lee allows an artificial sense of dramatic climax to unfold with the 1863 Bushwacker assault on Lawrence, Kansas. The viewer expects Holt and Roedel to perish in a tragic death in battle so Lee can make some sort of universal claim that war is pointless. However, Roedel and Holt merely receive injuries and miraculously, find themselves at the Shelley farm. Images of Jewel breast-feeding her child again distract the viewer and destroy whatever dramatic tension remains. In a contrived plot twist, Shelley maneuvers herself into matrimonial bliss with Roedel...
...While Woodrell wishes to "get through the humanity of all involved" in his novel, Lee's Ride With the Devil is merely a mockery of human relationships. Maguire's Jimmy Stewart-like treatment of his character, the unexplored dramatic richness of Holt's story and Jewel's shaky on-screen image detract from Lee's normally rich character development. Lee fails in Ride With the Devil. The film is not poorly conceived, but his past films and demonstrated talent grant occasion to expect more from him. This time, Lee tries too hard bridge the gap between the subtlety and serious...