The Ballad of Little Jo

REVIEW
This profound little odyssey examines feminine oppression in the tale of a young woman who finds herself wandering the countryside at the end of the Civil War. Constantly at peril of being raped by marauding ex-soldiers, she decides to head west where she masquerades as a man in a shithole mining town. Based on a true story lifted from a newspaper headline of the day, Greenwald's film delivers a wonderfully satisfying, gritty look at the Old West which rivals Unforgiven. Amis, in the lead role, creates an excellent portrait of rugged and determined survival. McKellen gives great support as a grizzly miner, portrayed initially as a decent man but who eventually shows his true misogynist colors.