Far and Away

Annotation for KRRR! 2017 by Martin Kos

In 1992, Universal released the film Forever and Away, directed by Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Pure Soul) starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The film's story goes back a hundred years to Ireland, where poor villagers are terrorized by the men of a wealthy landowner who owns all the land. One of the villagers is young Joseph, who is struck by two tragic events at once - the death of his father and the burning of his family home. The two are connected by the landowner, whom the young man decides to take revenge on. Although he fails, he then meets the landowner's rebellious daughter, Shannon. After various adventures, he flees to America with her and tries to fulfill the promise he made to his dying father in the new world - to acquire his own land and become his own master.

The development of the relationship between Joseph and Shannon is, without much surprise, the main driving force of the narrative, while it basically relies on the proven model of a love story between characters from significantly different social classes. In Forever and Far, however, it is remarkable how Howard works with this model. The narrative becomes more dynamic in different parts based on the transformation of their roles, both in their relationship to the social environment in the fictional world and to each other. In each part, it is manifested when Joseph or Shannon move, so to speak, among their own. Thanks to this, activity always temporarily overflows between them in a chain of important decisions or actions that move the story forward. Initially, they pursue their goal of defying a predetermined fate, independently of each other, and they help each other only with resentment, which gradually changes dramatically. The environment in which they both move plays a very important role in bringing the earthy young man and the snobbishly raised young lady closer together. While in Ireland the rich girl is in a much better position, in the new world the roles are reversed and Joseph, with his boxing skills, is much better involved in its functioning – connected to the lower social classes – and becomes an important figure. Changes in social status then trigger a series of secretly loving actions and reactions between them until the moment when they result in a spectacular finale.

The film does not avoid exaggerated pathos at some moments, which it combines especially with frequent slow-motion shots. However, although from a narrative point of view it sometimes rubs a little against classic Hollywood productions, its impact lies primarily in the interaction between the main actors Cruise and Kidman. After their first collaboration in Tony Scott’s Days of Storm (1990) and their early wedding, the film Forever and Far Away significantly helped to complete the image of a star couple of the new generation. Plus, just watching Tom Cruise with an Irish accent boxing in street fights while stripped to the waist before Tyler Durden similarly slashed his opponents is an unforgettable experience.