Given that they're the entire impetus behind the film's plot, there is precious little exploration of the "insane" women outside of a few grim flashbacks. While those scenes are successful, we lose all three characters just as they're introduced. That's an opportunity wasted right there. Outside of 'the frontier is hard' and 'men are scoundrels,' the film doesn't really say a whole lot about them or their experience. Though I suppose that there's any focus on women at all (specifically Swank's character) is something of a coup. Mick LaSalle writes:
The phrase “feminist Western” has been thrown around with regard to the film. Better to say “The Homesman,” based on a 1988 novel by Glendon Swarthout, is concerned with the struggles of women in the West. Just imagine living in a world in which every man is filthy, half drunk and brutalized by hard living, where even the biggest idiot considers himself superior to every woman he sees. Just imagine being a woman in that world. Now imagine living in that world alone.Overall, it's a decent film that struggles to find the right tone and balance. I feel like this was a mediocre film that could have been a good one. Now I just want to watch True Grit (2010) again for, like, the eight time.
