have you see the graduate . it be hail a the movie of it generation . but a river run through it be the story about all generation . long before dustin hoffman character get all wrap up in the trap of modern suburbia and norman maclean and his brother paul be face the same crushing pressure of grow up a they try to find their place in the world . but how could a place like post ww1 montana be a showcase for the american family and at a time when the wild west still be not completely go . just what have maclean tap into that strike so deeply at who we all be and what we have to go through to find ourselves . a the movie open and norman be an old man and flyfish beside a rushing river and try to understand the course his own life have take . the movie be literally a journey up through his own stream of consciousness and against time current and back to when he be a boy . he and his younger brother paul be the son of a presbyterian minister and devote mother . the parent fit snugly into their role . mom take care of house and home . dad do the work of the lord . the boys ponder what they will be when they grow up . norm have it narrow down to a boxer or a minister like his dad . give the choice and little paul would be the boxer and since he tell his first choice of pro flyfisherman doesn not even exist . the boy grow up and get into trouble with their prank and fight to see who be tough and do the thing brother do and all the while attend church and take part in all other spiritual matter like flyfish . they be at similar point in their life before college . but when norm return from his six year at dartmouth and thing be very different . paul be at the top of his game . master flyfisherman . grad of a nearby college and newspaper reporter who know every cop on the beat and every judge on the bench . norman be stunningly well educate for his day but have little idea what to do with his life and even a his father grill him about what he intend to do . youre leave feeling that at least to pop and god will call you to your life work . but you have to stay open and ready to receive it all your life . father have always take his boy to reflect by the side of the river and contemplate god eternal word . listen and their father urge . it both zen and quakerly . pretty radical for a stoic clergyman . but with all the beauty and contemplation and and even though the macleans be truly a god fearing and scripture heeding household and how be it that rev . maclean family be unravel . paul be true perfection a he fish the river and but he feel the pull of gamble and booze and while his family doesn not know how to keep him from wind up where he seem to be head . mom and dad and brother all seem to have the same quiet desperation of not know what they should be do and why they can not seem to help . pauly just wave it all off with a grin and his irresistible charm . but the junior brother be lose his grip . norman start get his life on track and find love and career and but paul continue to slide . the family that love him watch helplessly . mother and father and brother flounder in their own way try to help and but none very effectively . how can a family that love each other so much be so ill equip to handle this . how can someone be so artful and full of grace when out in god nature and yet be somehow unfit or unwilling to fit into the construct of society that god people have make for themselves . these be all question norman will ponder his entire life . the eternal word beneath the smooth stone of the river forever haunt him and yet keep their secret . the movie be beautiful to watch . this be certainly god country and and film it win an oscar . director robert redford play with the story from the book and tease the narration a bit to follow the emotional pattern he present and and it work well . but do go back and read the book and too . you will see norman make connection with his old man even deep than the movie can suggest and you will see the place where the storyteller very word gurgle and sing right off the page with an exuberance of a river run through it and lead into the unknown .