confront her own complicity in the creation of her lifeless
marriage.
Viewing Suggestion:Watch the slow but steady, gradual
healing process for the horse, daughter, and mother. They do
not give up and eventually go through a transformation.
Exercise: Remember a time in your life when you
were able to make at least a small change that you
desired? If this was possible, you have the capacity
to heal and change.- My situation is too overwhelming. I will never get a
handle on it.
Where the Heart Is (2000)
Novalee is seventeen and pregnant. She has never had a real
home. When her musician boyfriend dumps her at an
Oklahoma Wal-Mart with nothing but a camera and $5.55, she
hides in the store, keeping track of all the items she steals in
case she ever gets the chance to pay it back. She is discovered
in her hideout just as she is giving birth, and awakes in a hos-
pital bed to find that she has gained instant celebrity status in
the small town as the mother of “The Wal-Mart Baby.” Over
the next few years she creates a makeshift family from a group
of eccentric friends and realizes her own strength.
Viewing Suggestion: Watch as Novalee hopes against
hope, does what she can, then finally discovers the gift of
friendship and belonging she longed for.
Places in the Heart (1984)
Set in 1935 Waxahachie, Texas, this story shows how determi-
nation and hard work can overcome overwhelming odds. Alone
and broke on a small farm during the Great Depression, the
recently widowed Edna must rent a room to a blind boarder and
hire a wandering African-American man in order to stave off
the bank and feed her children. The African-American man
knows how to grow cotton, but when the bottom falls out of the
82 E-Motion Picture Magic