The Valley of Light

I really enjoyed The Valley Of Light, a beautiful slow paced film, capturing the time and setting beautifully. The ending was beautiful, very heartwarming.

"The Valley of Light" is a drama with a little bit of romance. I echo the other comments about the refreshing lack of foul language and violence that passes for entertainment nowadays. It's also great to see courtesy, good manners and integrity given prominence.

The drama centers on a man (Noah) troubled by his service in the military (post WWII). Without family to fall back on, he goes on his own "odyssey", following whatever river he happens to find himself on and fishing for food. One river takes him to an encounter with an old man who has some encouraging and enlightening words for him, as well as a possible path.

In the next town over the ridge, he finds some answers to what he needs in life, befriending a mute boy in need of a father and a widow woman in need of love. When a crisis hits, Noah has to decide whether to cut and run or work with the relationships he has built to that point.

Nearly all of us define our lives by the relationships we hold dear, and the movie does an excellent job in showing how Noah developed his relationships with the mute boy, the widow, and the rest of the townspeople. I found myself (a techie guy who works on computers all day) while watching the movie longing to go to that time of no gadgets or TV. Beautifully filmed, good acting and story come together for an enjoyable movie.

Noah (Chris Klein) has returned home from WWII, only to find that his parents are deceased, his younger brother is in prison, and his parents' farmland has gone to another family. Sad. A fisherman, Noah meets a man (Robert Prosky) near a river, who recommends a small town in North Carolina for a new home. Taking this advice, Noah shows up and, indeed, the town is very nice. Initially somewhat skeptical of the stranger, the townfolk soon welcome Noah. This includes an adopted mute boy named Frankie (Zach Mills), who wishes to follow Noah around, at times. Fortunately, a war widow named Eleanor (Gretchen Mol) has an empty cabin on the lands of her property and Noah moves in. Soon, it becomes clear that Eleanor may be over her grief and interested in Noah, ditto for him. Will a new love form? Possibly. Also, some of the town's residents make a bet with Noah about the amount of catfish he might catch and the young veteran takes them on. Then, tragedy strikes and Noah may move out of the area, leaving Eleanor behind. Will it happen? This is a quietly lovely romantic drama with a very beautiful setting in North Carolina. All of the actors, including Klein and Mol, do very fine work. Care has been taken by the film makers to re-create another time, so that costumes, buildings, automobiles and such bring back the late 1940's with appeal. Romance fans will also be pleased. However, if you are not in the mood for some heartache, save this for another time, for some tears may swell and drop for most every viewer.

1946. A time very few of us can relate to. A time when simple things and simple relationships gave life a unique texture. A great movie to put our own lives and our own relationships into perspective. Watch the movie, perhaps it will help you to better understand what is really important in life. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 3/16/2021

The story here is set in 1946, just after the war. Chris Klein is soldier Noah coming back from the war. He visits the SE USA home where he grew up but other people live there now. He has no home, he sets about wandering. There is some mysticism in this movie, at one point he is fishing and an older man comes up and tells him that he sees two other people walking with him, he describes Noah's mom and dad, now deceased. Later he learns that man also had died, a few years ago. All this serves him in the end when he is trying to figure what to do with his life.

He ends up in a valley and meets the young widow in town, played by Gretchen Mol as Eleanor. Noah and Eleanor are both very nice, straightforward people, we sense that this being a Hallmark movie they will make a life together before the movie ends.

Good, older Hallmark movie, I watched it at home on DVD from my public library.