Movie: North and South

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5 (which is exactly a one point rise from what I previously would have rated it)

Genre: Romance, classic

Primary actors: Richard Armitage, Daniela Denby-Ashe

Length: A little over three hours (four episodes, each 50 minutes)

Based on: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Time period: 1800’s

Year it came out: 2004

My overall opinion: I liked it better than last time, but still don’t absolutely love it. Yes, Mr. Thornton is handsome. And Margaret is also quite nice. But it’s SO gray! I thought that maybe that wouldn’t stand out to me so much after seeing and loving Little Dorrit, but it still felt very oppressive, almost. I think that some of the reason I like LD better is because of the extreme characters. Oh, there are certainly some very extreme characters here, but not in the same way. As usual, I found the mill scenes intensely interesting – factories have long fascinated me.

You know, this story could also have been called Pride and  Prejudice. Both characters suffer from both problems. And Mr. Thornton and Margaret have so many mis-understandings! It’s quite amazing. Practically every time they’re together, they have some mis-understanding.

I’m glad I watched it again, but it’s not a new favorite period drama. However, I have friends who absolutely love it, not to mention all the bloggers I know who love it, so by all means – if you haven’t seen it yet, give it a try! I do recommend that you read about it on IMDb or some other blogs first for a full list of things that might be objectionable – I don’t feel like tackling that right now. :P