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Green and Gold

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green and gold

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Bret Eckelberry
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Movie Review

In the cool hues of morning, just before dawn breaks over the fields and farms of America’s Dairyland, Jenny grabs her rifle. She takes aim at the lonely light on the other end of the barnyard, the one attached to a telephone pole. Squeezes the trigger.

The gunshot shatters the predawn silence, but the light remains intact.

One day, Jenny’s going to hit that light. When she does, she’ll leave her grandparents’ farm in Wisconsin and chase her dreams, likely humming a Joni Mitchell song as she goes. Until then, she’s stuck milking cows and mucking stalls.

See, things aren’t great between Jenny and her grandfather, Buck. She wants to follow in her late mother’s footsteps, traveling to the big city to become a musician. He’s afraid she’ll do just that and lose her innocence in the process. They can’t seem to agree on much. In a way, the only thing keeping them connected is the farm.

But even that may be coming to an end. Buck’s farm is struggling. He’s behind on his mortgage payments, and the bank is looking to collect.

Though Jenny doesn’t want to stay on the farm, she doesn’t want her granddad to lose it, either. She thinks her music could provide a way to make ends meet. A famous musician, Billy Reed, is in town—maybe if Jenny can get him a demo of her music, he’ll pass it along to his manager …

Buck’s not interested in that plan. “There’s right and wrong ways to make money,” he chides. But the right ways haven’t been making enough to keep the farm afloat.

Enter Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers.

Well, not literally. The manager of the bank offers Buck, a fervent Packers fan, a glib wager: If Green Bay goes all the way and wins the Super Bowl, Buck will get another year to pay back what he owes on the mortgage. If they don’t, they’ll have to pay their mortgage in full … immediately.

Not exactly a fair bet, given that the Packers haven’t made the playoffs in more than a decade. Hey, if you’re looking for a friendly wager, don’t go in against a bank. But Buck and Jenny don’t have the luxury of choosing. The bet is the best chance they’ve got. If Jenny and Buck are to save the farm—and, perhaps, mend their relationship—Green Bay will have to live up to its moniker of “Titletown.”


Positive Elements

Jenny and Buck often butt heads, but they care for each other. Jenny helps Buck with the farm, working dutifully (if a bit begrudgingly at times). When she learns about the farm’s dire straits, she gives what money she has earned from playing music to try to ease the burden. She also goes to the bank on behalf of her grandfather, hoping to get a little more time to pay off the mortgage.

For his part, Buck tries to protect his granddaughter from the same mistakes her mother made. He also tends to his farm, showing a special care for the land and the animals that inhabit it. Some people mock him for “farming like it’s the 1800s,” but Buck is firm in his convictions to nurture, not exploit, his land. Though he can be crotchety, he is equally quick to help those in need—even those who wouldn’t do the same for him. And eventually, he comes to value and encourage Jenny’s musical talents.

Buck and his wife, Margaret, love each other deeply and lean on each other for support. A community gathers around a hurting family in a time of great need.

Spiritual Elements

In Green and Gold, farming is presented as an almost spiritual vocation and is referred to as a “sacred act.” Jenny relates that Buck views his farm as (in some sense) the Garden of Eden and himself as Adam. A man says there’s a “holiness” in how Buck and Jenny care for things on their farm.

Margaret makes sure that her husband and granddaughter attend the local country church every Sunday. She encourages Jenny to use her musical gifts there, telling her, “God smiles when you sing.” A church choir sings “How Great Thou Art.” We hear a few snippets of a pastor’s sermon, including a quotation from Isaiah 40. When speaking with the pastor, Buck tries to quote the Bible … before giving up with an expletive. When he has reached the end of his rope, Buck prays to God and asks for His help.

We see real footage of players and fans from Green Bay Packers games. One of these fans is dressed as a green and gold Catholic bishop named “Saint Vince.” Referencing their high stakes bet, the bank manager tells Buck to “pray God owes the [Packers] a favor.” Jenny jokingly asks a calf if he’s got an in “with the guy upstairs.” A family says grace and prays for healing.

Sexual & Romantic Content

Jenny strikes up a romance with a farmhand, Aaron. They flirt and kiss, but it’s kept fairly chaste. Buck kisses Margaret and refers to her “sweet buns.” Jenny jokes that Margaret should change clothes to avoid tempting the new farmhand (to be clear, Margaret is not wearing anything immodest), and her grandmother teases that she might give the farmhand “impure thoughts.”

Jenny’s mother evidently gave birth to her out of wedlock. One of Buck’s friends ribs him, claiming that Margaret is his girlfriend. Someone crudely compares deer in rut to high school boys. A person wears tight, formfitting jeans. A female radio caller suggestively says, “Brett Favre can chase [her] around the field any time.”

Violent Content

A radio broadcast mentions that farmers and ranchers have a higher rate of suicide—and in one harrowing scene, a farmer contemplates taking his life. (Fortunately, he doesn’t.) In another tense scene, we are briefly left to wonder if a different farmer has committed suicide due to his dismal circumstances.

During an argument with the bank manager, Buck cuts the man’s tie with a knife. The bank sends men to repossess Buck’s cattle, leading to a confrontation: Buck threatens to shoot one of the men, and another man punches Aaron.

A woman falls from a ladder. We see her in the hospital with her head bandaged and we’re informed she suffered “severe head trauma.” Buck warns Billy Reed, who has taken an interest in Jenny, that he’ll hunt him down and “gut him” if he does something to hurt Jenny. We hear about ranchers slaughtering some of their livestock to save money.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear one s-word. God’s name is abused four times, along with three uses of “good Lord.” There are a few exclamations of “d—” or “d—it,” and 10 uses of “h—.” We also hear “crap,” “cripes,” “geez” and “heck.”

Buck makes sure to point out that the bank manager’s own license plate calls him an “a-hole.” (The full plate reads “A Hole in One.”)

Drug & Alcohol Content

People drink at various times in Green and Gold, in bars or while watching football games. After a musical set, Jenny asks the bartender for a beer. When the bartender questions if she’s old enough to drink, Jenny replies that, where she’s from, the “legal age is deer camp”—i.e., likely below the actual legal age to drink. Later, Jenny and Aaron go on a date, and one of their stops seems to be a bar. Billy smokes a cigarette.

The city of Milwaukee is referred to as “Brew City.” We see a beer sign in a bar. Someone says, “Drinks are on me.”

Other Noteworthy Elements

Buck carries the pain of his daughter making poor choices and dying far too young—a fate he wants Jenny to avoid. Margaret rebukes him for thinking he alone bears that pain and warns him not to push his granddaughter away.

Jenny and Buck have several arguments. He tries to dissuade her from pursuing her musical ambitions. Someone wants to use a woman’s song for himself. When she rebuffs this offer, she’s called a “nobody.”

We see Buck exercising in his underwear several times. He names his cows after Packers’ legends but bestows the name “Ditka” upon one of his pigs. Jenny talks about squeezing the teats of a cow.

While hosting a card game for his buddies, Buck says, “If you’re gonna run with the big dogs, you gotta learn to take a whiz in the tall grass.” Buck and Jenny skip church (or at least, part of it) to watch Packers games. Someone says that Brett Favre’s gunslinging brand of football makes him want to soil himself at times.

People spit. A farmer relieves himself a few times out in his fields.

Conclusion

Green and Gold is a love letter to rural America and its farmers. Small wonder—the grandfather of the film’s director and producer brothers, Anders and Davin Lindwall, was a dairy farmer himself. The movie does well in capturing the beauty of its pastoral setting, as well as the strength and virtues of those who inhabit it. It touches on the power of community, whether those connections are formed through faith, profession or even a favorite football team.

Green and Gold is a sweet movie about stubborn people who come to lean on their faith and the community for help. One character in the film opines, “I’m convinced the world’s maintained by the quiet work of unnoticed faithful people who choose to do the right thing.” You can tell that the filmmakers believe that sentiment.

Though Green and Gold has a few rough edges, including some gruff language and difficult moments, it delivers a heartfelt message that many families will be able to cheer for—Packers fans or not.


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Bret Eckelberry

Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.

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