Art is long, life is short. – Arthur Miller
A sensitive and revealing portrait of Rebecca Miller’s family, focused on her father Arthur Miller, American playwright and author of All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953) and A View from the Bridge (1955, revised 1956). He also wrote several screenplays and was most noted for his work on The Misfits (1961). The drama Death of a Salesman has been numbered on the short list of finest American plays in the 20th century alongside Eugene O’Neill‘s Long Day’s Journey into Night and Tennessee Williams‘s A Streetcar Named Desire.
He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 1980, Miller received the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. He received the Prince of Asturias Award and the Praemium Imperiale prize in 2002 and the Jerusalem Prize in 2003, as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Lifetime Achievement Award.
Rebecca Miller uses precious family footage, shot over a lifetime with her father, old photos, newsreels, interviews with friends, and whatever else she felt would contribute to this loving patchwork homage to a man who embodied the American Dream. The foundation of the storyline continually returns to her father talking and working in his woodshop, making tables, repairing chairs and at one point, creating her a custom stereo box as a special gift.
Immigrant Isidore Miller, Arthur’s father, was of Polish-Jewish descent. He arrived in New York city at the age of seven. He had made the trip by himself to join other members of his family already living and working in New York. He immediately got a job in a coat factory and was taught how to sew. Hello, he was seven! He began his own coat manufacturing business and became financially successful. He married the more cultured and artistically inspired, Augusta Barnet by arrangement. Isidore could not read or write, but he wanted to provide the opportunities to his family that only America could.
I won’t spoil the experience by revealing everything, but this portrait holds so much meaning for Americans at this moment in history. It embodies what’s important, an essential life force, and why it is important to speak up. Arthur Miller wrote ‘The Crucible’ in response to the blacklisting frenzy of the time.
Listening to the real man speak is humbling for any writer. For example, when asked to describe Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller replied with a character profile. “She was innocent, completely without guile, not one bit judgmental. Of course she was in constant pain. She carried the emotional scars of desertion and abandonment from being abused as a child. She was extremely courageous, but she could never manage to see the brighter side. It came from insecurity. The solution is a familiar one – pills and alcohol”.
As a writer, this is something you don’t want to miss, but more importantly, it answers a lot of questions about what America represents, and how to hold on to the dream. It’s an American story about a seven year old immigrant, who couldn’t read or write, who worked hard, prospered, had a family with child who could not only read and write for him, but win a Pulitzer Prize!
Enjoy! Currently showing on HBO.
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