Critique of Mildred Pierce

     Mildred Pierce is a five part mini series that aired on HBO last month. It is a story of a woman's struggles during the depression era. Mildred lives with her husband and two daughters in a nice neighborhood in a very nice house. Her husbands company goes under and their banks close leaving them with some serious money issues like the rest of the nation. To make things even worst, Mildred finds out her husband has been cheating on her and she throws him out of the house. Now being a single mother she has to find work. In the 1930's it was very hard for women to find work, especially because of the depression. Mildred refuses to let her daughters see the struggles she is having with money and keeping them living respectably. She has a hard time dealing with the kind of jobs she has to take. She is offered a job as a waitress but has a very difficult time acclimating to having to wear a uniform and serve people.She has to swallow her pride, but she makes sure that her children don't find out so that they won't be ashamed of her. 
     Mildred is an excellent baker and ends up making a deal where she sells her pies to the diner she works at. This is an excellent opportunity for her and eventually leads to her opening up her own restaurant. In the rest of the story Mildred deals with a lot of sadness from the death of one of her daughters and the estrangement of the other. She also gets caught up in a financial war with creditors when things start going south with her businesses. There is a lot of drama and romance and substance to this great tale.
     The creators of this series do a wonderful job capturing the essence of the depression era. The costumes and props are fantastic! All the furniture, automobiles, and buildings are perfectly matched to the time period. This series really opens your eyes to how things really were during that time. Women weren't all "Suzy Homemaker" and the husbands weren't all moral. The children were not perfect obeying angels. I really enjoyed watching this series. It opened up my perspective to how things were in early suburban America. I would recommend for everyone to check it out. The acting is superb and the cinematography is amazing. It really takes you back in time. Its a beautiful story of a woman's struggle for independence during a depressed and repressed time.

Excellent costumes and props!