How Green was My Valley

When I was a boy, my grandmother would sometimes mention "How Green was My Valley" as a movie she loved. And I always wondered why. Well, the other day I saw this movie again and maybe realized why. This is a basically a movie about family. A family of miners in a Welsh village. They go through many problems, facing them bravely. And at the center of the movie is the character of the mother, trying desperately to keep the family together against all odds. And that's what made me stop and think. Because I remember that when family feuds would erupt, she was always trying so hard to keep everyone together through it all. Even if it meant admitting she was wrong, when she wasn't. Sometimes she was successful, but sometimes she was not. And when she was not, you would notice the pain in her.

So I watched this movie again, not as "the movie that beat 'Citizen Kane' at the Oscars, but as a work of art that touched the heart of someone close to me. And it moved me beyond words.