Solomon and Gaenor (1999)

reviewed by
Mark R. Leeper


                         SOLOMON AND GAENOR
                  A film review by Mark R. Leeper
               Capsule: 1911 South Wales is the setting
          for this tragic love story, a sort of Romeo and
          Juliet told in the bleak style of Thomas Hardy.
          A Jewish boy and a coal miner's daughter fall in
          love and grab some small happiness from a dreary
          environment only to be torn apart by their
          families.  Well-acted and frequently moving.
          English, Welsh, and Yiddish language.  Rating: 7
          (0 to 10), +2 (-4 to +4)

The poignant setting is a misty, cold mining town in Wales, 1911. Not unlike the setting of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF the town has two nearby communities, one Christian, one Jewish. In the Jewish community the Lewinsky family is composed of pawnbrokers and cloth merchants. Solomon (played by Ioan) is about twenty years old, good-looking, and enjoys his work as a "pacman"--going into the Christian section leaving samples of cloth and taking orders for larger pieces. When asked, Solomon denies being Jewish, just to escape trouble.

Solomon finds himself particularly attracted to one customer, a woman about his own age Gaenor (Nia Roberts). As he continues to see her, professionally and otherwise, hiding his religion. He takes the name Sam Livingstone. Gaenor is from a family of poor miners. Her very large brother Crad (Mark Lewis Jones) immediately takes a dislike to the stranger who he thinks is less than a man since he does not have callused hands. But Solomon and Gaenor are attracted to each other and are willing to risk the consequences.

The story is very much the star-crossed lover story, but if that was all there was to this film it would be mundane indeed. However, writer and director Paul Morrison does not make this the film expected. First and foremost, the two main characters are not totally blameless in their fates. There is enough fault in the plot so just about everybody gets a piece. It would be very easy to present the Jewish community as blameless and purely the victims of intolerance as well-meaning literature has done since IVANHOE. The Jews do appear more sinned against than sinning, but they are also at fault and have their own intolerance. Gaenor is too fast to accelerate her relationship with Solomon, whom she hardly knows, and then refuses to tell him when she needs his help. Even the countryside comes in for its share of the fault. Instead of the lovely pastoral scenes that usually grace this sort of film, cinematographer Nina Kellgren's camera accents the unpleasant in the climate and locale: the stony landscapes, the cold, the gray mist, the fog, and the snow. People's lives are as bleak as the countryside. Everything in the country seems muted blue and gray. The only bright color is a dress that Solomon sews for Gaenor, red the color of sin and rebellion. Early in the film we see the Welsh taking turns having kitchen baths, using the same dirty water. They sleep two in a narrow bed. The Jewish and Christian community each has its restrictions an intolerance of the other. The Christian religion appears to be as bleak and unforgiving as the landscape, the seem a little more positive. The Jews are given a slight edge here as we see a meeting where they are discussing the importance of understanding the writings of Dickens.

Ioan Gruffudd as Solomon seems a little old to be acting in the irresponsible way that his character does. Gruffudd is best known, to me at least, as a young Horatio Hornblower from a series of TV movies. Of the two, Nia Roberts as Gaenor seems the better actor. She exhibits an odd characteristic of brightening up and being more attractive when Solomon is around. As tales of star-crossed lovers frequently are, this is a story of pain and tragedy. There is more pain in one of Morrison's fist fights than in all of the fighting and shooting and killing in THE MATRIX. Ilona Sekacz's score combines Jewish and Celtic themes, an unusual combination.

     SOLOMON AND GAENOR is a textured moody love story and quite
worth looking for.  I rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +2 on
the -4 to +4 scale.
                                        Mark R. Leeper
                                        mleeper@lucent.com
                                        Copyright 2000 Mark R. Leeper

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