I think if I were to ever find out that I was going to die, I would make a list of movies I would want to watch before I did, and right near the top of my list would be "A Prairie Home Companion". That may be a morbid thought, but death surrounds us in our everyday lives all the time, like it does in this film. "A Prairie Home Companion" is a very special film not just because it was the last directed by the great Robert Altman but also because in how it deals with the subject of death.
I'm sure when Altman made this film, he wasn't thinking it was his last, but he might've had an inkling it might've been. A few months before the release of the film, Altman was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Academy Awards, it was there he announced that he had once had a heart transplant. Soon after "A Prairie Home Companion" was released, Altman passed away. People have looked at the film as his swan song, and indeed it is, but it's not just for those sentimental to the Altman touch. It does have some things, important things regarding how we live our life and how we face death.
The film takes place on the final broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion" which is a live radio show. This is fictional seeing how the actual show is still on the air and performs regularly, but that's not the point of the movie. This is a "what if" scenario concocted by screenwriter and host of the real radio show Garrison Keillor, what would he do if it was in fact a real last show? The answer is, nothing out of the ordinary, the philosophy is the radio keeps going on even if this is the final show. Throughout the broadcast, there are many key characters who appear on stage and backstage, such as The Johnson Sisters (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin) who come from a family of singers much like The Carter Family (only they were famous). There's also a singing cowboy duo Lefty and Dusty (Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly) who have a bit of belting out bad jokes.
There is also Guy Noir (Kevin Kline) who is the local security guard on the lookout for anything suspicious. He's the first one to notice a mysterious woman in a white coat (Virginia Madsen) who walks around the theatre seemingly unnoticeable sometimes, she is in fact the Angel of Death. But the true life Angel of Death comes in the form of The Ax-Man (Tommy-Lee Jones) who is sent to end the show for good. But while all this is happening Garrison keeps the show moving with not a moment of dead air, and even when there is an actual death in the theatre, they keep moving on.
I saw an interview once between Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor, each one disagreed with the other as to what this film is about. Altman called it a film about death, while Keillor described it as a light hearted comedy. In this case, I think they're both right, what they have collaborated to make is a light hearted comedy about death, and that's not easy.
When it comes down to it, the movies that have appeared on my lists are movies that I enjoy, and frankly I enjoy movies that make you feel good. "A Prairie Home Companion" does that, it is a film about death, but it makes it feel like a comfort rather than something that is scary, and when we die, it doesn't really matter what we say about someone, what matters is that we remember them.
Watching "A Prairie Home Companion" is like watching a lively funeral, it's so full of warmth, tenderness, humour, and music for the soul. This is what the show is about and there isn't much point in saying anything else about the subject.
Robert Altman made his style look so effortless, it's truly a wonder as you watch his roaming camera capture these people really living in this movie. You get the fact that Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin are sisters or Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are best friends just at how they relate to eachother. The performers are all standouts which includes Lindsay Lohan who looks to have such promise in her performance, I pray she gets her act together.
Like "The Terminal", this film gets better each time you view it. I remember enjoying the film when it first came out, but now it's grown on me and it puts me is a great mood each time I watch it. When I die, I hope people remember me, the way "A Prairie Home Companion" asks to remember it, just don't leave any dead air, and keep moving on.
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