Everybody receives help from the script that was based on a story by Ken Miller, who was also part of the scriptwriting team with Ms. Dockterman and Nancy Babine. That Ken is a veteran of the Vietnam war and knows of people living in the woods the movie is set in for the same reasons that Jake and the others do, helps ensure the story's authenticity. But it wouldn't have mattered how factual they were if they hadn't crafted a story that let the situation develop in as natural a manner possible within the confines of a movie.
Naturally everything is foreshortened by the time constraints of a movie, but they've done a wonderful job in bringing the development of the relationship between the lonely man and the scared child to life. Each actor is given sufficient time to develop their characters realistically and their relationships logically.
The one aspect of the script that may seem at odds with reality, the father leaving his child with an old soldier buddy, actually gives the script an even greater air of authenticity. As civilians we don't understand the camaraderie and trust that is built up within a platoon in the field. You literally place your life in each other's hands on a daily basis. Who else in this world would you trust with a life, a life more valuable than your own, at this moment because yours is ending, then someone who had shared that responsibility in the past?
No matter how good the script, no matter how great the director, if you don't have actors who can carry out their assignments your movie is ruined. Miraculously the casting in this movie is a marvel from top to bottom. Danny Glover just keeps getting better and better as the years go by. The emotional depth and intelligence of his work gets more and more sophisticated, as he utilizes more than just his voice and facial expressions to communicate with the audience.
You can see the physical affect Lenny has on him as he gradually changes from the tightly wound, controlled person, full of self-loathing and fear we meet at the beginning of the movie one step at a time. The first confrontation with Red, at a picnic organized by Lenny to make friends with Jake's fellow hermits, triggers Jake's own memories and nearly destroys the fragile bridge that's been erected between the man and the young girl.
Article comments
1 - Ralph
Missing in America missed some logical facts. The movie made reference to the fact that our war buddies were serving around 1970. Shouldn't that make the girl in her mid to late 30's? Other than that, it was a good movie.
2 - Gary
Did you even watch the movie? Henry went back to Vietnam and that is when he meet his wife and they had Lenny.