Lone Star Is a Strong Film about Borders - Movie Review Example

Lone Star Lone Star is a strong film about borders; Not only the physical ones but also the invisible, psychological ones that keep people apart. “Itis a gratifyingly complex story told beautifully seeking to explore a huge array of cultural, racial, economic and familial tensions and in the process, also sustaining strong characters, deep emotions and clear dramatic force. Plain and forthright as it looks, ‘Lone Star’ winds up with a scope and overview rarely attempted in American films today, which makes its success that much more exemplary”(MASLIN, 1996). The opening landscape shot of the desolate land where nothing breathed except cactus itself reveals the divided borders where people know too much of the dividing past and too little of togetherness. The film set in Texas "is unique among the United States in that it was once its own country. It was a republic formed in a controversial and bloody way. And its struggles didnt end with the Civil War. There is a kind of racial and ethnic war that has continued. That continuing conflict comes into the clearest focus around the border between Texas and Mexico. But this geographical boundary is only one aspect of the films concern with borderlines.” (Sayles, 1996) "In a personal sense," Sayles comments, "a border is where you draw a line and say This is where I end and somebody else begins. In a metaphorical sense, it can be any of the symbols that we erect between one another - sex, class, race, age." (Sayles, 1996) Not only this, in each of the stories in the film, parents and children display stubborn, warring ways of looking at the past and the present which is a border of disagreement. The film is a fine and sensitive creation deeply concerned with the cultural identities, with what it means to be American where America matters—near the Mexican border. People forbid their own culture and language to be something else to be more acceptable. For instance, where Mercedes Cruz (Miriam Colon), Pilar’s stern mother proud of her American citizenship, rejecting her own Hispanic background, says, “Speak in English, Enrique. This is United States. We speak English here.” [00:47:35-00:47:44] “Within the movie there are lines between people that they choose either to honor or not to honor. It may be this enforced border between Mexico and the United States, it may be one between class, race, ethnicity, or even military rank. Theres an important scene where Joe Mortons character, an army colonel, says, ‘I want to know what you think,’ and the private says,’Really?’ She has to say that because privates do not get to say what they think to colonels and you have to have a special dispensation.” (Sayles, 1996) “When you cross the border and go into some kind of new territory, you dont necessarily have the power that you had on your side of it. When Sam Deeds crosses the border, the Mexican guy says, ‘Youre just some gringo with a lot of questions, I dont have to answer you. That badge doesnt mean anything down here.’ I think thats one of the reasons that people like borders - they can say, ‘South of this line, Im a big guy, and I run things here.’ Or it may be as literal as, ‘This is my land and, if you come on it, I can shoot you.’" (Sayles, 1996) From a parents meeting at school to negotiations over the towns new jail to Charley Wades ruthless bullying of local minorities (the scene where Charley humiliates Otis over his attitude), the film effortlessly incorporates a broad political awareness about the divisive past of the town into its drama. There is a prominent separation between beliefs and acceptablities. People are firm and rigid. While the Protagonist Sam (Chris Cooper) is confused in the pursuit of truth which is a moving factor in and of the film. “In the Lone Star, the romance in Sam and Pilar, also finds an embodiment of the central ideas of the film: about crossing borders, challenging the past, escaping the burden of history. These themes echo everywhere in a film that eloquently weaves together the multi-faceted life of Frontera and grasps the importance of race or privilege or politics in every transaction.” (MASLIN, 1996) “Lone Star develops the theme that has underpinned all Sayless work to date: the sense of character as a product of accumulated social and cultural influences, the way people are moulded by their backgrounds—but can surmount that conditioning if they try hard enough. ‘Blood only means what you let it,’ bar-owner Otis Payne(Ron Canada) tells his grandson, even while teaching him to be proud of his mixed Afro-Seminole ancestry. ‘Most people,’ says Cody(Leo Burmester), the redneck barman, ‘dont want their salt and sugar in the same jar,’ but under his morose gaze two army sergeants, one black and one white, are giving him the lie as they plan their life together. There is a preoccupation with history in the film, whether it is Sam Deeds wanting to find out the personal history of his father, or the grandfather looking back into the roots of the black Seminoles. Pilar is a history teacher for a purpose, including that meeting about how theyre going to teach history in the textbooks. Even Joe Mortons character is dealing with the history of black and white relationships. When he asks himself, ‘Am I just a mercenary?,’ its not only because of his personal feelings, its also in a way a historical question, asking, ‘Can I be a black soldier in the United States Army and not be a mercenary like one of those black Seminoles who just chased Indians for the whites, are giving him the lie as they plan their life together’. (Kemp, 1996) “The film about borders states that borders, however artificial, must be acknowledged—but can still be crossed. In the final scene Sam and Pilar decide to cross one of the most fundamental borders of all, the incest taboo, since it matters less than their own happiness. “(Kemp, 1996) MISE-EN-SCENE Lone Star exhibit Sayles’ carefull and mannered approach to storytelling. Flashback sequences are skillfully woven into the narrative, revealing character and motivation. It has been employed with sheer precision at calculated timing in the movie. “In its visual style, too, the film elides borders. Flashbacks are presented, not by cuts or dissolves, but by the camera simply panning left or right, up or down into a different time-zone that nonetheless occupies part of the same space. The past, Sayles implies, isnt another country; its still here and people like Sam are living in it, carrying it with them. And as the flashbacks accumulate, the line between moral absolutes also starts to blur.” (Kemp, 1996) In many scenes the point of view shots increase the involvement of the viewers. For instance, the shot where Buddy puts his pistol down on the table, shots of forensic investigation of the skeleton, the badge, the photographs, etc. The long, contemplatively paced film, scored with a wide range of musical styles of Mason Daring and the sun-baked clarity by Stuart Dryburghs cinematography lends the film a great appeal. Stuart Dryburgh employed separatory symbols in the interior scenes profoundly like in the club or kitchen or rooms. People are separated by tables; interiors are divided with vertical or horizontal planks giving a feeling of division. The movie is pre-dominantly filmed in the interiors with the use of natural lighting or low level lighting without shadows. There is a fearless use of colorful costumes probably to mark the diversity of cultures, views and lifestyles. “The fluid editing is a particular asset of the movie that lets the story glide seamlessly between past and present assuring the viewer that the many elements of the film converge in ways that are meaningful and moving.” (MASLIN, 1996) There is not even the separation of a dissolve, which is a soft cut. The purpose of a cut or a dissolve is to denote a border, and the things on opposite sides of the border are meant to be different in some way, and Sayles wanted to erase that border and show that the people are still reacting to things in the past.”(Sayles, 1996) The film features a great deal of fine, thoughtful acting, which can always be counted on in a film by Mr. Sayles. Though none of the actors are given much screen time, a remarkable number of them create fully formed characters in only a few scenes. Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) is shown as a man maturing by the days as the mystery around the death of Charley unfolds. He is mostly on the move or in other shots in some thinking-mode. “He brings grit and dignity to the films pivotal role, perfectly in keeping with the films tacit style. While Ms. Elizabeth Pena is refreshingly naturalistic as Sams high school sweetheart, Pilar Cruz, and Matthew McConaughey is a commanding presence in his brief moments on screen. She gives an especially vivid performance as the character who is most unsettled by shadows of the past. The film is greatly helped by the fact that neither of these two looks or acts like a movie star and that they blend effortlessly into the texture of small-town life.” (MASLIN, 1996) Charlie Wade’s performance called shots as a bullying, cynical and sadistic man who draws pleasure from humiliating people. Racism is personified in the ugly spectre of Charley Wade, and Kristofferson delivers a fine, convincing performance in the role. “Also outstanding are Gabriel Casseus playing Otis as a proud young black man in 1957, when it was clearly dangerous to behave that way, and Frances McDormand as Sams jumpy, over-medicated ex-wife. Tiny roles are also memorably etched, as in the brief appearance by Beatrice Winde as the widow of a principal in a murder case, an old lady busily playing Game Boy. Sam introduces himself politely, but she remembers Buddy too well to resist a wisecrack: ‘Sheriff Deeds is dead, honey. You just Sheriff Junior.’” [00:30:52-00:30:55] (MASLIN, 1996) In Lone Star, Mr. Sayles displayed nothing but soft-spoken grace. And he handled the films dozens of significant characters and the many interwoven strands of its story line with ease bringing out real flesh and blood characters. The films narrative density breaks new ground in Sayless ongoing exploration of the American myth. It retains his key qualities of intelligence, political acuteness, and narrative lucidity. The film tracing lines of tension and interconnection between a wide spread of individuals, charting the social cross-currents and showing how these people impinge on each other, no matter how hard they try to keep themselves separate evokes a deep sense about the introspection among the viewers. Read More