Desert Bloom

Living in a part of the U.S. where there is definitely a winter (Chiberia, anyone?), I thought I would try to find a film taking place in a hot locale for a change.

When I picked up this movie, for some reason I thought Christine Lahti starred in it and that it was a contemporary film (I confused it with a film called Housekeeping). She does narrate as the adult version of the character played by Annabeth Gish (though Gish doesn't even get a credit on the VHS box despite being the central character).

Gish plays Rose, a 13-year old living in Las Vegas during the Korean War era, on the cusp of A-bomb testing. Her stepfather (Jon Voight) is unstable and abusive and her mom (JoBeth Williams) tries to hold things together. Although stepdad is at times loving, his behavior becomes increasingly less so when he drinks and when he has PTSD/hallucinations from WW2 service, which as we know now was not well-diagnosed back then. Mom starts becoming more independent by working outside the home and trying to keep a cheerful face when he has to spend some time in an institution due to the stress. Rose though, as a child, still cannot understand what is happening to her stepfather, and can only relate it to herself: the abuse, what she perceives as his hatred of her. Small gifts she gives him are looked on with distrust and paranoia.

A glamorous aunt (Ellen Barkin) visits after a breakup, at first a breath of new life then straining the family. She is at first seen as glamour and happiness, but her relationship troubles and intrusion at a difficult and tenuous time for the family affect them negatively and then causes a betrayal for Rose. Her "makeup" with Rose was too

Allen Garfield plays an astute sympathetic teacher, Jay Underwood a nice guy friend.


As one would expect with a glamorous aunt and a lonely man, the crisis the family is going through will become even more complicated.  The theme and plot has been realized before in various ways.  It's a little too clean of a period piece, a slice of life that doesn't explain to Rose what's going on, so for her the issues remain unresolved. The characters and sets/costume are a little too patly realized, but it's a nice little indie film. I take it the title suggests that Rose has wilted in the desert setting where she has also been emotionally deprived. The presence of her aunt, while not entirely positive, forces changes in the family to adjust and confront their problems.