Sneak Peak of Louisa May Alcott
Alcott: ‘Not The Little Woman You Thought She Was’
Though many readers associate Alcott with the sweetness of Little Women, Reisen tells NPR’s Linda Wertheimer, Alcott’s legacy — and Jo March’s, too — is really about the empowerment of women and girls around the world.
“You don’t grow up to walk two steps behind your husband when you’ve met Jo March,” says one Alcott fan.
In the time since Little Women was published in 1868, Reisen says she believes a countless number of women have — as Alcott put it — “resolved to take fate by the throat and shake a living out of her.”
Listen here to the NPR interview
School Library Journal: “Visually Rich,” “Inspirational”
[STARRED REVIEW] Harriet Reisen’s fine script and Nancy Porter’s vivid production combine to treat viewers to a visually rich, well-paced, and intimate view of Louisa May Alcott’s life. The story unfolds in well-paced dramatized vignettes, excellent scholarly commentary, clips from the original film of Little Women, and readings from Alcott’s personal letters and from her biographer, Ednah Cheney, played with a marvelous, spine-cracking correctness by Jane Alexander.
“Smart”… “tasteful,” says The Boston Globe
“Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind ‘Little Women’ ’’ manages to penetrate the facts of Louisa May Alcott’s life (1832-1888) to get at her humor, her spirit, and her growth as a person. With a smart, tasteful use of docudramatic re-creations, director Nancy Porter gives us the story of a writer’s interior world and genesis with more drama and color than you generally expect from a 90-minute documentary.
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LA Times says Alcott doc “gives breadth and life to the author of the 1860s classic”
For those who know Louisa May Alcott only as the author of some of the most enduring classics of children’s literature, “Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind ‘Little Women’ ” will be a revelation. For those already familiar with Alcott’s Transcendentalist-boho childhood, her sensational tales of love and horror under the pen name A.M. Barnard and her refusal to diminish her personal and economic freedom by marrying, the dramatically reenacted documentary gives life and texture to a woman of extraordinary talent and determination who became as great a celebrity in her day as J.K. Rowling is in ours.
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Alcott doc voted Top Video 2009
Alcott doc voted Top Video 2009 by ALA’s Booklist editors
Booklist calls Alcott film “clever… stunning… entertaining & instructive”
Booklist 11/15/09
