Tonight the 6th of October 2025 I watched the movie, An Unfinished Life. It’s a film about bitterness and forgiveness. Nothing more, nothing less. The first has the power to make and keep one lonely, or more lonely than they should be. The second has the power to ease that loneliness.
Of course there are details, and a story to be told. Einar Gilkyson (Robert Redford) lives on a small ranch a mile up in the hills of Wyoming. His only son was killed in an auto accident. His daughter-in-law was driving. Einar always blamed her, never attempted or even thought he could forgive her. He watered, weeded, and tended his bitterness until that much-loved plant took over his life and pushed everything else to the periphery of his consciousness. His wife, no longer noticed, found another man in another place. His best friend, and hired hand, Mitch (Morgan Freeman) stayed with him, getting badly mauled by a grizzly bear at some point, and going from a hired hand to crippled buddy who stayed on in a cabin on the ranch, requiring daily care from Einar.
At some point after the death of Einar’s son, about 11-years or so, his daughter-in-law, Jean (Jennifer Lopez) living in Iowa and the unspoken focus of his bitterness, is beaten and abused for the last time by her vicious jackass of a boyfriend. She leaves, nearly broke, with her 10 or 11-year old daughter Griff (Becca Gardner) so named in honor of her late husband, Einar’s son Griff, and heads for Einar’s ranch with great reservation. Her only goal is a place to live for a month or two until she can get on her feet and find a place of her own. It’s a bitter pill for her to swallow – asking a man who despises her to help her – and it’s tough for Einar to say yes. But Einar is not just a bitter man, but a decent one, and cannot say no, especially when he finds that his daughter-in-law’s daughter is his granddaughter. A granddaughter he never knew he had and one still in the womb at the time of the accident. That’s not to say all is instantly forgiven.
In the end, this movie goes where you hope it’s going, though perhaps not as directly or predictably as you thought. It’s a sweet tale, well-acted, and well-written. Most importantly, it’s a reminder that there’s not much that rivals bitterness in its ability to waste our years and impoverish our lives.
Josh Lucas and Camryn Manheim round out an appealing primary cast.
I liked it. A lot. It’s not a big movie, but a nice one that reminds what matters. And some of us need a lot of reminding.
copyright 2025 Almost Lucid Geezer