Harriet Reisen

Louisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses all aspects of Alcott's life: the effect of her father's self-indulgent utopian schemes; her family's chronic economic difficulties and frequent uprootings; her experience as a nurse in the Civil War; and the loss of her health and frequent recourse to opiates in search of relief from migraines, insomnia, and symptomatic...

Filmed on location at many places actually frequented by the real persons portrayed and featuring a script written from primary sources, this documentary tells the life story of American author Louisa May Alcott, chronicling her efforts to rescue her family from poverty and find wealth, fame, and happiness for herself. Includes animations and commentary from Alcott scholars, novelist Geraldine Brooks, and the "literary sleuths" who uncovered Alcott's...