America’s heart in its rugged grandeur

Louis Schwartzberg’s “America’s Heart & Soul” offers a stirring Norman Rockwell vision of the USA with plenty of uplift, not unwelcome in these perilous times and arriving just in time for the Fourth of July weekend. The emphasis is on those individuals who have taken advantage of our freedom to pursue their dreams, sometimes overcoming adversity or bettering the lives of others in the process.

All well and good, but one can only speculate on how much richer the film might have been had Schwartzberg simply asked the people he has sought out what they think about America today. But then the theme song donated by John Mellencamp for the film is called “The World Don’t Bother Me None.”

“America’s Heart & Soul” is about as far removed from “Fahrenheit 9/11” as imaginable -- and the fact that Disney embraced this film and rejected Michael Moore’s is not without irony.

This is an undeniably gorgeous film, with tremendous sweep and a great feel for vast landscapes and glittering cityscapes. Schwartzberg has captured a sense of the country’s grandeur and in doing so has created a splendid backdrop for the approximately 30 Americans plus various organizations he focuses on. It is a charismatic group, with many of the men virile outdoorsy types and the women vivacious and dynamic.

The interviewees include a stylish Colorado cowboy, a Washington state junk sculptor, a Cajun musician and his wife, a Vermont dairy farmer, an Appalachian rug weaver with a poetic sensibility, a rousing Mississippi gospel singer, a California vintner, a pair of Texas oil-well firefighters, a pair of Massachusetts brothers who pursue rock ‘n’ roll stardom while keeping their blue collar day jobs, an ace Manhattan bike messenger, a pair of New Orleans jazz musicians, and salsa dancing brothers from L.A.

Among the film’s more intriguing personalities is the Rev. Cecil Williams, pastor of San Francisco’s landmark Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, which for 40 years has practiced diversity and inclusion, reaching out to the city’s neediest. Others: Erik Weihenmayer, who three years ago became the first blind climber to reach the summit of Mt. Everest; Michael Bennett, ex-con turned Olympic boxer and dedicated to coaching underprivileged youths; and George Hernandez, another boxing coach engaged in a daily battle to save boys in the inner city from drugs and violence.

Also especially impressive are the workers of West Virginia’s Weirton Steel, who purchased the company in a brave bid to save their jobs in one of the country’s most endangered industries. One worker’s comment that he and his co-workers have taken their fight to Washington “and so far we’ve pretty much fallen on deaf ears” is perhaps the film’s sole critical comment.

The film celebrates nature and a closeness to it, and its vision is selective indeed. There are no images of environmental ravages or blighted neighborhoods, and pretty much everyone in view, man and woman alike, fits the description of rugged individual. The worlds of education, big business, science, medicine, government and -- with the notable exception of Weirton Steel -- industry are virtually unrepresented.

Those who carry on the traditional crafts, like the rug weaver, are to be cherished, certainly, but how much of the heart and soul of today’s America do they really represent?

*

‘America’s Heart & Soul’

MPAA rating: PG for mild thematic elements

Times guidelines: suitable for all ages

A Buena Vista Pictures release of a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Blacklight Films production. Producer-director-cinematographer Louis Schwartzberg. Executive producer Jake Eberts. Editors Brian Funck, Tom McGah, Jeff Werner. Music Joel McNeely. Running time: 1 hour, 26 minutes.

In general release.