Movie review

Last night, we watched

Silver City (2004)

I am a bit of a John Sayles fan. I think Lonestar maybe one of my favorite movies, and his Sunshine State is also quite impressive. Nuanced films that address the complexity of life and often refuse to demonize people.

There is no doubt that Sayles is not a fan of George Bush and this film is really much like Steve Earle's "The Revolution Starts Now" in that it was created with the explicit goal of attacking the president. Earle's album was not his best work, but it really stands on its own with several memorable tunes, and a few that are over the top, including his "Condi, Condi, Condi" and the angry "F the FCC."

But back to Sayles. He addresses a lot of themes about the complexity of the political landscape in this film. Chris Cooper plays a really good version of Bush--fumbling over his sentences in a way that is really hard to do, and showing some intellecutal limitations when dealing with the complexities of Colorado politics.

Sayles definately presents a conspiratorial world, where corporate giants own politicians and are the driving force behind Cooper's character. Those corporate hogs manipulate and intimidate the press, always trying to manage the public and manipulate them into following certain ideas (reduced regulation, lower taxes, etc.) all the while seeking to open more and more of the West to developers. Cooper's character is aptly named "Dickie Pillager" and the family in fact acts out their name.

All of that is interesting and provocative. I think that many Christian Conservatives end up supporting politics that are really counter to their core values. And I fear that the encroachment on free speech is starting in earnest. 20 something states have proposed laws to restrict college professors from discussing politics in their classes. The first ammendment implications are quite horrifying and I really don't think that my conservative friends really support that, but they are following someone who uses "moral values" to distract them from oil company profits. People who like to talk about the founding fathers are looking the other way while Bush excludes dissenting voices, hires journalists to stump for him, and actually allows a gay prostitute to act as a shill in the White House press room.

That part of the film is interesting, but Sayles never really pulls it together. And unlike the other two films I mentioned, this film is too explicitly political. His other stuff is gently subversive; this one hits you with a sledge hammer. His film, Steve Earle, Green Day's "American Idiot" and Micheal Moore all speak to the intense anti-Bush feeling that so many conservatives dismiss as sour grapes. But there are real reasons that people resent this administration. Unfortunately, this film won't convince them.