O Descanso Eterno

Enjoyed viewing this film about an American Soldier who was being returned to his hometown a small city in Georgia. Major Kendall Laird, (John Lithgow) is escorting the remains of this soldier and he has to face the family, Luther Johnson, (Morgan Freeman) and his wife. This procedure usually takes a few days, however, Major Kendall experiences strange behavior by the men who were in combat with this Lt. Johnson, who has been awarded a medal for saving their lives. There is also another problem which involved the burial place for Lt. Johnson because of a racial problem with the town people who do not want a Black person to be buried in their cemetery. There are many twists and turns and this film reveals a very surprising story about what really happened to Lt. Johnson.

A powerful movie shows a unique situation where there was a collective error of people, and goes beyond, also shows a degrading action of racism, something meaningless, a movie that is big and teaches, shows a story that we kept our mouths open, a moving situation that brings us new unexpected situations. A movie I did not know and surprised me, I thought it was great!

The filmmaker is the American, John Korty (1936), I did not know him, but now I became a fan, I want to see more of his works, made many films for TV, stopped directing films in 2009, made a documentary: Miracle in a Box : A Piano Reborn, and rather to TV movies: A Gift of Love: The Daniel Huffman Story (TV Movie 1999). I highlight these films more: The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974) Farewell to Manzanar (1976) Who Are the DeBolts? and Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? (1977). The protagonist is the great American actor John Lithgow (1945), starred among others in: Total Risk (1993), Love is Strange (2014) and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (1984). Morgan Freeman, (Invictus 2009) plays an important role too, appears little, but brightens up this movie that I liked too much.

Good storyline, but I for one am very tired of how Hollywood portrays the South for their own gain.

Unbelievable just how good this story about the evils of Racism was and is. Stuff like this should never have been allowed to happen. All the actors in this did a very good job. Yes I Highly Recommend this one. James E. Welch Henderson Arkansas 5/4/2022.

I just saw this movie recently by way of a DVD that I rented. As the "voice of experience" from having previously served in the US Army in the same duty as John Lithgow's character ... I must say that he did one Hell of a good job! I was totally amazed! I usually associate this actor with roles that are "dumb & goofy" ... but he amazed me by performing in a very serious role. The character traits were perfect. The costumes were on target for that period. It was even filmed on location at an army post in Georgia which is where the fictional story was to have taken place. I especially liked the ending when the combined efforts of the men in the (mostly white) Platoon became the force that turned the tide of southern racism and finally allowed a hero to be buried in a place where he originally had NOT been welcome for no other reason than the color of his skin. I grew up in Georgia and even during that same time period of the early 1970s, there were still small communities where the mindset of certain people was still like the 1950s before Civil Rights had taken effect. But overall, I felt that this film was excellent and really did NOT get the attention that it truly deserved when it was first released. Hallmark should replay this once again.

---LTC Ralph Mitchell, US Army (ret)