Discussion
Questions: Places in the Heart
1. Review the opening shots in the film (that
accompany the credits). How do those
shots establish the mood of the film? What
are the dominant images in the opening shots?
2. Why is so much time spent on developing
the scene in the Spalding dining room at Sunday dinner?
3. How many "stories" are told in
the first ten (or so) scenes of the film?
What is the director trying to communicate by telling so many stories?
4. What one building in town dominates as
the key visual image throughout the film?
Why? What other building is set
up as a visual comparison to that building?
Why?
5. What is the crucial interaction between
Edna and Moses that enables the plot of this film to develop? In what way is that interaction related to
the dominant theme of this film?
6. What makes Edna Spalding a special
character? Consider her interactions
with all the other characters. What
values guide her life? How are those
values brought out in her interactions with the other characters?
7. How is Edna's grief for her husband
expressed in the film? Can you recall
specific scenes that provided visual information to of her responding to her
grief?
8. In what way is the tornado scene a
turning point in the film for the major characters?
9. What are the dominant images in the
scenes showing the characters picking cotton?
Consider what film techniques are used in these scenes.
10. After Moses is beat up by the Ku Klux Klan
members, why is he crying?
11. When Edna says goodbye to Moses, he gives
her three gifts one for each of the children, and one for
her. What gift does she give to Moses?
12. Explain what the last scene of the film was
intended to signify? Explain what film
technique was used in the last scene.
Why was it effective? How does
the ending of the film relate to the opening scene?
Discussion
Questions written by Robert E. Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota
Reprinted by permission of the author
for educational use only