**Part of The Best Picture Project**

One of the topics in regards to cinema I find myself frequently debating is the presence of sentimentality. Many see it as one of the worst things ever, while I think that when done well, sentimentality is what art is all about. Even films that are meant to be intellectually engaging can't really work until they grab the audience on an emotional level. Those kinds of films are the best.

But of course, vacuous films that rely on faux sentimentality are generally disgusting, as it's more calculated than intentional. Art IS about manipulation, but that manipulation should come genuinely, not forcefully.

The Yearling isn't a bad film, and I've seen sentimentality done worse. But…

Another classic from my childhood. I remember reading the book in middle school and then watching the film in class and we all loved it. "The Yearing" is a sad coming of age story set in Tennessee right after the Civil War. it centers a boy, Jody becoming a man in a very unlikely way. He becomes a father to a fawn, after his father shoots the mother in order to save his life. For that a life saved is a life gained as Jody's life is changed forever.

Flag the deer actually doesn't appear until the second half of the film. The first half is just as good though as we are introduced to everyone who seems to live…

Another classic from my childhood. I remember reading the book in middle school and then watching the film in class and we all loved it. "The Yearing" is a sad coming of age story set in Tennessee right after the Civil War. it centers a boy, Jody becoming a man in a very unlikely way. He becomes a father to a fawn, after his father shoots the mother in order to save his life. For that a life saved is a life gained as Jody's life is changed forever.

Flag the deer actually doesn't appear until the second half of the film. The first half is just as good though as we are introduced to everyone who seems to live…

**Part of The Best Picture Project**

One of the topics in regards to cinema I find myself frequently debating is the presence of sentimentality. Many see it as one of the worst things ever, while I think that when done well, sentimentality is what art is all about. Even films that are meant to be intellectually engaging can't really work until they grab the audience on an emotional level. Those kinds of films are the best.

But of course, vacuous films that rely on faux sentimentality are generally disgusting, as it's more calculated than intentional. Art IS about manipulation, but that manipulation should come genuinely, not forcefully.

The Yearling isn't a bad film, and I've seen sentimentality done worse. But…

I feel like I’ve seen a ton of these "slice of life" 19th century nostalgia films. Old Yeller had a very similar feeling to it. I don’t know what really started these but I wouldn’t doubt The Yearling being a major contributor to their popularity.

The movie is about a boy named Jody (Claude Jarman Jr.) working a small family acre in the Florida backwoods. His father Penny (Gregory Peck) is trying his hardest to raise his son right, teaching him lessons about life while still allowing him to enjoy childhood. His mother, Orry (Jane Wyman), on the other hand, is a distant, almost cold woman who feels that life has treated her so poorly that any sort of happiness…