The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

This is another movie that I feel everyone (at least every woman) ought to see. When my sister and I visited our aunt in California, we ended up watching this movie at the home of one of the families who had befriended my sister when she worked at Casa de Ama. We had actually watched another film just before this one and got completely sucked into staying for this one because it was just that compelling. The film is based on a true story of a woman who as the tagline says, "raised ten kids on twenty-five words or less." Evelyn Ryan raised ten children with no real help from her drunk husband (more complication than help) by competing in jingle writing contests. This was how products solicited nearly "free" advertising by turning it into a competition. They gave away a one-time prize and used the ingenuity of the competitors for their own gain (delightful), but back to the story. This woman who was skilled in writing and had dreamed of a career in journalism used her skills to keep her large family afloat. And I loved that while her career dreams were interrupted by her burgeoning family, she wasn't bitter or resentful of her children or even her husband. One of the things I enjoyed the most about this film was that through the process of entering all these different contests Evelyn discovered a community of women who were all doing this to help support and supplement their family's income. And those women didn't get catty with one another or steal someone else's idea to get the prize, instead they met together regularly to spur on each other's creativity and encourage one another in their writing. The eldest daughter is the one who decided to tell her mother's story of integrity and strength through this film. Definitely something to look for at your local Blockbuster or add to your Netflix list.