Reviews

The television series 'Bonanza' is very highly regarded as far as TV series go. But if you pay attention to the scripts, it becomes apparent (at least to me) that some of the episodes in this series were written with the intention of 'setting' public opinion on various issues. Case in point, on one episode, Lil' Joe and Ben cut down a "musta been a 400 year old" tree. Not to worry though, they had a li'l one footer to place in it's stead. "People will be happy with what we've done here." said Ben. If this isn't the timber industry's play on justifying old growth timber cuts, I don't know what is. Where you find one play like this, you can be assured there are others. Watch with this in mind next time you sit down for your next re-run of Bonanza! Happy trails.

My main reason for wanting to watch this film was to see how they depicted the politics of the signing of the Federal Reserve Act, signed into law by president Wilson on December 23, 1913. There was but a brief acknowledgment that yes he did sign it into law. But this single act by Wilson changed the future course of the United States in a more profound way than all the presidents and all the wars that have followed. It was this Act that funded those wars. It was the signing of this Act that gave the United States the ability to 'generate' literally unlimited amounts of money. I could go on, but I'm drifting off topic. The main emphasis points of this film's 'Wilson' consisted mostly of his rise to the presidency and his actions as president during the buildup of World War I and his involvement with the League of Nations. In my opinion, the complete lack of emphasis on the signing in of the Federal Reserve Act is a concerted attempt to downplay the significance of what it does and who it gives power to. Yet it defines the fundamental structure of American society today. This act was the billion volt shock that jolted the United States into the world power that it is today. Without the Federal Reserve Act, the world would be a completely different place. Someday, someone will make a film about it–but this one's not it. The beast that 'The Fed' has become since then is a whole other story.

Fundamental life lessons abound in this very well done film. Many of the foundations of modern American society were still being defined during this time. Created by and for banks, the Dust Bowl Days of the 1930's helped to define just how much power over our own destinies we were willing to give away and the consequences for doing it. But some things are today, very much as they were back then. Not a lot has changed in many respects and this film should serve as a reminder of just how easily lives can be torn apart. One last thing, the ending couldn't have been done any better! Very nice. But an even more appropriate title for this film might have been, 'Stolen Harvest.'