For those not familiar with the original story (if you are, feel free to skip this paragraph), Little Women follows the March family, especially daughter and aspiring author Jo, through the joys and sorrows of growing up, and the turmoils of love and loss. It is set in the northern United States during the American Civil War, and features an array of memorable characters, scenes and settings. Whether you are interested in the movies or not, I can't recommend the book enough.
There have been several adaptations of Lousa May Alcott's classic over the years, some of which I have seen- many, I'm sure, I have not. Eventually, I did read the book which shot it's way to one of my favorite books of all time. As usual, after having read the story, I realized there were some things the movie didn't portray- which is fine, you can only do so much in a two hour time frame, but I always appreciate it when a studio like BBC comes along and does justice to the original work.
So when my best bud tells me I should watch this new (2017/18) Little Women miniseries, of course I was up for it! This production is divided into three approximately one hour parts, which makes it easy to watch over the course of a couple days (or if you're me, over the course of one sleepy afternoon). And, my Great Aunt March, was it good! Of course, sacrifices still had to be made and not every scrap of perfection from the book made its way into this series, but the creators did a fantastic job of staying true to the spirit of the original story. The heart, warmth, and intimacy of Alcott's charming story is all here, portrayed through a lovely cast, including the wonderful Emily Watson as "Marmee".
I always appreciate it when filmmakers respect the intelligent property they are working with, and I offer a heartfelt thanks to director Vanessa Casswill and all the BCC Masterpeace Theater team behind this series, for doing just that. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This series didn't pretend to be anything it wasn't, it didn't dilute its depth and artistry by trying to shoehorn in a forced political agenda, but conveyed its message naturally and easily.
I know there is another Little Women movie in the works with some pretty big names attached to it and, while I will watch and hopefully enjoy it, I can't imagine it will surpass what this adaptation has already achieved- if not perfection, a keen familiarity with and fondness for the work upon which it is based.
