BY STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—George Woodard is a 3rd-generation dairy farmer up in Waterbury. He still lives on the family farm, purchased by his grandfather back in 1912. He’s mostly retired from farming now—“I still milk one cow”—and has turned his attention once again to something he’s done on and off for years: filmmaking. His latest film, “The Farm Boy,” will be shown on Friday, April 28 at 6:30 p.m. at Brandon Town Hall.
“The Farm Boy” is Woodard’s second full-length feature, after “The Summer of Walter Hacks,” which he filmed in 2004 and released in 2010 (it’s hard to find time to edit a film when you still have a herd of 25 cows to milk). Both films star Woodard’s son, Henry, who filmed “Walter Hacks” as an 11-year-old and “The Farm Boy” as an adult. In “The Farm Boy,” Henry Woodard plays Calvin Dillard, a young man who drives a milk truck for his father in rural Vermont during World War II. He marries a girl named Mary (played by Grace Woodruff) he met at a dance, yet barely has time to settle into marriage when he’s drafted and sent to war in Belgium. While in Europe, he meets another woman, Renée (Coco Moseley), and his experiences with her change him in profound ways.
Woodard filmed “The Farm Boy” on his 60-acre farm in Waterbury, parts of which resemble the pine forests of the Ardennes in Belgium, where one of the most famous WWII battles—the Battle of the Bulge—took place. For those scenes, Woodard managed to assemble a troop of WWII reenactors, some army trucks, and a bunch of fireworks.
“It was a heck of a good time,” laughed Woodard.
Woodard takes many of his cues from classic American directors, such as John Ford, John Sturgis, and Anthony Mann, who all worked in a frank, direct way that focused on the story rather than on elaborate stylistic tics that can obscure the narrative. Even Woodard’s choice to film in black and white is a nod to a certain era in American cinema.
“Ford just put the camera there and let whatever was going to happen happen,” Woodard said. “Lots of times if stuff is shot conventionally, the story comes through better.”
The story has two main acts: Calvin’s life in Vermont and then his experiences in Belgium. For Woodard, capturing the realities of wartime accurately was paramount, and not just in battle but also at home.
“Most WWII movies don’t give enough home life,” he said. “A big hole was left in communities when men went to war.” What Calvin left behind was just as important to the story as what he encountered in Europe. You can’t understand a character’s choices unless you know a bit of their history.
The movie was produced by Joan Brace O’Neal, who won acclaim for her 2001 documentary “A Moment in Time,” about the aftermath of a car accident that left 2 teenagers dead in Montpelier.
Woodard and O’Neal are Vermonters who make movies about Vermonters. “The Farm Boy” is also a bit personal for Woodard: it’s loosely based on his own parents’ experiences during WWII.
“It’s a love story with action and adventure,” he said. “There’s a lot of heart to it and it’s a lot of fun to watch.”
