Growing up on a Wisconsin dairy farm, my Sundays were often spent watching the Green Bay Packers. Back in those days, it was easier to catch the game live than to try to set up the VCR and hope that playback from the video cassette would turn out. (Kids today will never know what an advancement on-demand streaming truly is.)
So this December, as I was spending yet another Sunday cheering on my team, the announcers said actor Craig T. Nelson was at Lambeau Field that weekend to promote a movie that really piqued my interest.
Nelson stars in the film Green and Gold, where he portrays a Wisconsin dairy farmer facing foreclosure. To save the farm, he bets on the Packers winning the championship that season.
The movie is directed and produced by brothers Anders and Davin Lindwall, who are grandsons of a dairy farmer and grew up just north of Green Bay. The Lindwalls describe the film as a “heartfelt tribute to rural America’s strength and perseverance.”
It is also presented in collaboration with Culver’s (another Midwest mainstay) and the restaurant franchise’s Thank You Farmers Project, which has invested millions into agriculture to ensure a sustainable food supply.
I’ll admit, after watching the preview, I had my reservations. I have a bad habit of finding plot holes and knew from the trailer I’d have to look past some agricultural inaccuracies to be able to enjoy the film for what it was meant to represent. To say some of the agricultural practices shown were relevant to the time is a bit of an understatement.
That said, when I saw the film on its opening weekend in theaters earlier this month, I was pleasantly surprised with how authentic the filming was to agriculture.
The Lindwalls intentionally worked with farmers in Door County, Wisconsin, to capture everyday moments and scenes on farms. The barns, inside and out, were real and not constructed on a studio lot. The animals were real too.
The movie combined farming and faith in a way that will resonate with anyone who has ever pulled a calf or tilled the soil. From dancing the polka in the barn alley to praying in the pasture, the movie captured those precious moments that string together our lives on the farm.
It also underlines the resolve farmers must have to endure tough and heartbreaking moments. It showcases that farming stems from a belief in what you are doing, not just for today but for the people and planet for generations to come.
Ultimately, it is a story we live each day, one of chasing dreams as much as trying to hold on to those we already have. And for those of us dreaming in rural America, we know how far they can grow because of our deep-rooted values that tether us to who we are and where we come from.
The Lindwalls and everyone involved created a beautiful tribute to farmers, rural communities and our traditions. They said it best as a “profound appreciation for life’s simplest yet most valuable things.”
If you have yet to enjoy it, I hope you get a chance to do so soon.
