Movie the Good Earth Could Have Been Called the Good Wife

The Good Earth stars Paul Muni and Luise Rainer and is a classic movie. Paul Muni and Luise Rainer play a Chinese couple and though neither are Chinese, you fast forget that when viewing this movie. Luise Rainer said more in this movie with her facial expressions and body movement than with words spoken. Paul Muni showed the vulnerable side of all humans. The Good Earth is set in communist China. Yet, all through the movie there is the definite theme of capitalism.

Paul Muni's character Wang Lung,"acquires" Luise Rainer's character O-Lan in a work house owned by the richest family in the area. She has had a hard life and is unsure of this man that has come to take her as his wife. Together the couple face drought, famine, revolution, insects, and family members that want but never give. The Good Earth is there, always there. The Good Earth is what they fight for, what they struggle to hang on to. The Good Earth is their land.

Paul Muni's character Wang Lung, is comical at times. At times the Good Earth is all he can see. At times the Good Earth takes over his life and he cannot see the good that stands before him. Lung cannot see that the biggest prize is his good wife, O-Lan. Lung can be shallow and a wee bit pompous, vain and scared. Good Earth is a movie that is told by emotions of humans and it encompasses the good and the bad side of the human experience. Muni's character Lung shows the frailty of man under the influence of power and money. The Good Earth became a possession and no longer a love and passion for him.