A tale of tragedy and remarkable writing – that’s the life of Eugene O’Neill. American Heritage presents a two-hour documentary film chronicling the life and career of the first great American playwright.
American Experience – Eugene O’Neill: A Documentary Film
4 Stars
“The individual life is made significant just by the struggle.”
The great American apostate playwright Eugene O’Neill wanted nothing more than to dig deep into the real life and produce a new kind of truth and realism on stage. His works confronted the pain of everyday life and the torture and turmoil of the deeper questions concerning the human condition. His life and career are chronicled on this new PBS documentary.
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For the first half of the twentieth century Eugene O’Neill was American theater. The most celebrated writer of his generation and widely regarded as America’s premier playwright O’Neill received four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama (in 1920 for “Beyond the Horizon”, in 1922 for “Anna Christie”, in 1928 for “Strange Interlude”, and posthumously in 1957 for the autobiographical “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”) as well as the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936. O’Neill’s harsh upbringing and early life brought forth a yearning for meaning and truth in his work. O’Neill bucked the shallow entertainment for entertainment sake model so popular at the time and brought frank and honest realism to the stage.
The American Heritage documentary takes a look at the childhood involving his mother’s morphine addiction and attempted suicide, the deaths of his parents and brother in his early 20’s, and his mid-life battle with Parkinson’s disease; all of which shaped O’Neill life and style, and how that life led to such great works such as “The Iceman Cometh,” the dark allegory which showcases the life of illusion and lie that most people live their entire lives. The documentary if filled with photographs from his lifetime and includes interviews and dramatic readings of his work. It paints a troubled man, often unhappy and disillusioned, but one that strove for one purpose alone. In O’Neill’s own words, “I want to be an artist or nothing.” The film is filled with interviews and testimonials from those who knew and have performed his work and would agree that he was remarkably successful in his goal.
The documentary finishes with O’Neill’s last work – the autobiographical Long Day’s Journey Into Night. The play focuses on the pain and troubles of his childhood during one day when all the family’s dirty secrets are laid bare. His final work is the culmination of his life’s work – a brutally realistic an unapologetic look at the human condition that is bittersweet and deeply tragic. Much like the man himself O’Neill’s plays show a complex view of the world that never goes for the easy answer but instead strives for a more true and honest view of the world.
This is a wonderful documentary and any fan of O’Neill, of theater, or of biographical films will want to check this out. The filming and editing are first rate and the film spends as much time discussing the man as his work and how one relates to the other. A great DVD to own and would also be good for educators (the official site includes more on O’Neill including a teacher’s guide and suggested further reading). For those not ready to pay for the DVD the program (sans extras available only on the DVD) will be shown next Monday, March 27th on PBS. Watch and enjoy.