Janet McTeer in Songcatcher (2000)

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Review

Civilization exists by degrees. The advanced sophistication of an Ivy League musicologist, for instance, is far and away beyond any refinements hillbilly bumpkins might ever imagine, but, as Songcatcher (1999) so amply illustrates, the coarse wisdom of the downtrodden will teach an open-minded, suave swell lessons that can’t be learned in finishing school. The incredible soundtrack of indigenous American folk music is a bonus of Songcatcher’s storyline, which follows the evolving attitudes of a sophisticated musicologist who begins the movie studying the hill folk as if they are strange specimens but comes to be woven into the fabric of their lives.