There's Something About Mary

Occasionally, and only very occasionally, there are times I wish I could understand science fiction. Most days I'm content with not knowing the difference between a hovercraft and a Craftsmatic Adjustable Bed. Between a death-ray and a dead Ray Charles. Between an alien life form and an alien life insurance form. You catch my drift. My mind just doesn't wrap around sci-fi, and try as I might, I just don't get it.

But John does, and often I will be reading a book beside him as he watches some spaceship-laden epic. Most of the time, I'm able to just drown out whatever is happening on the screen and concentrate on my book, but I find this increasingly difficult when John watches "Battlestar Galactica".

You see, "Battlestar Galactica" has among its cast one of my favorite actresses, Mary McDonnell. I've long considered McDonnell to be the most underestimated, underutilized performers of our time. There is something altogether entrancing and luminous about her. Even in a show that dumbfounds me, as "BG" does, I am transfixed whenever she comes onscreen.

I first saw Mary McDonnell on a short-lived 80s sitcom called "E/R" (not that "ER", a different one: this one was a briefly-run situation comedy). Even in a presentation that did nothing to showcase her talents, she was able to bring a heaping dose of class to an otherwise dead fish of a TV show. A few years later, McDonnell showed up in a John Sayles flick called "Matewan". Though the movie was generally well-received within the film community, it really didn't go very far and unfortunately didn't provide the career boost the then-35-year-old actress needed.

But luck turned around when she won the role of Stands With A Fist, a white woman raised by and living with Sioux Indians, in "Dances With Wolves". I've always had a soft spot for "Dances With Wolves", and a big reason for that is McDonnell's incredible performance. Her masterful work in this movie is astonishing and restrained in its raw, naked power. And I wasn't the only one impressed with McDonnell: she received through-the-roof approval ratings from test audiences and was nominated for a slew of acting prizes (including an Oscar for best supporting actress).

There is one scene in particular that still resonates. It is McDonnell's first scene, and we see Stands With A Fist kneeling in the prairie grass, singing Lakota songs and carving into her flesh with a long knife. She has come to an isolated spot to commit suicide when Lt. John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) happens upon her. Bear in mind, that up until this point, neither Dunbar nor we as viewers have any inkling that Stands With A Fist is not a full-blooded Sioux. Panicked, he runs to her and lifts her up, trying to get her to calm down and stop what it is she's setting out to do. Stands With A Fist, enraged, battles him, scared witless, in a barrage of Sioux curse words...but then: something unexpected. In the middle of her tirade, she clearly says "DON'T!". From this moment on, McDonnell invites us into the sad, fragile world of Stands With A Fist. It is a perfectly-executed moment of supreme nuance that unlocks the entire universe of a fascinating character.

McDonnell followed up "Dances With Wolves" with some plum roles: Alexandra in a TV version of "O Pioneers!", a disillusioned wife in the brilliant "Grand Canyon", a supporting turn in "Sneakers". But it was in another John Sayles film, 1992's "Passion Fish", that McDonnell proved her leading lady status.

As a soap opera actress who is confined to a wheelchair after a car accident, Mary McDonnell ignites the screen in a fiery inferno of rage, obstinance, and grief. Her Mary-Alice is as unlikable as they come, but in McDonnell's deft hands, she is transformed into an unlikely hero. By the end of the film, you not only like Mary-Alice: you understand her. McDonnell's unique choices and dedication to the smallest of moments makes Mary-Alice's journey altogether brave and only too real.

For her work in "Passion Fish", she was again nominated for an Oscar, this time for best actress. And I thought for sure, after her startling work in "Passion Fish", she would rise to the same highly-regarded level of Master Thespian as people like Meryl Streep and Katharine Hepburn. But Hollywood is criminally unkind to its 40-plus actresses, and McDonnell was relegated to supporting roles in a handful of forgettable films, as well as a starring turn in the AbFab-ripoff "High Society" (another short-lived sitcom).

But this was the point in McDonnell's career where she not only showed she was a great artist, but a crafty businesswoman as well. She knew something when she signed on to play the title hero's mother in "Donnie Darko", perhaps sensing that the movie was just bizarre and mesmerizing enough to acquire the cult status it eventually did. McDonnell plays her Rose Darko as not just another simpering suburban soccer mom. She is a damaged, despairing mother trying to hold fast to the quickly-unraveling threads of her family. A throwaway role, in McDonnell's grasp, became something truly unforgettable.

So when McDonnell took the role of President Laura Roslin in the sci-fi opus "Battlestar Galactica", I firmly believe this great actress knew what she was doing. She recognized the originality and appeal of the script, surely, but she also recognized that this was both a stable way to earn her living as an actor AND remain in the public consciousness forever. Her performance in "BG" infuses the show with vivacity and grace. She makes her Laura Roslin a powerhouse of intelligence and class, and, by turn, lifts the whole program to a new level of artistry. So what if she will have to spend her post-"BG" days at sci-fi conventions, signing autographs for runny-nosed dweebs in prosthetic pointy ears? Mary McDonnell is a damn fine actress, and a damn smart businessperson.

Now, if I could only understand what the hell she's SAYING onboard that bloody ship, I'd be set.