Movie Review

Silver City: The Lesson of a Rush Job

By Susan Frome

Often we look to a John Sayles independent film for a clear perception into an issue of our society or our culture in such films as "Lone Star," "Sunshine State" or even the mystical "The Secret of Roan Inish." Mr. Sayles is often out to report on the sorry state of affairs and corruption going on in environmental settings or with law enforcement officers (sheriffs, government officials, etc.), and among real estate developers most of all. Who could forget the final scenes in "Sunshine State" when the gigantic earth-moving machinery begins to move into the semi-tropical jungle area in a small town on the eastern coast of Florida-e.g., the close-ups of the huge mechanical claws ripping into the earth in slow motion, destroying everything. They were beautiful shots, made to make us see -really see what destroying the earth looks like.

In "Lone Star" we became deeply involved with the racial love story between the new sheriff and his teenage love, a Mexican beauty; of course they were not allowed to come together as young people, but as adults there are more possibilities. All of this against a background of lies and corruption covering up a murder in the past by the personification of law and order of yesteryear. There were other issues in the movie, and it was all done through interesting flashbacks and the sensitive, strong work of Chris Cooper, an actor not well-known at the time.

Another film was "Passion Fish" which dealt with race, class, and disability with the fine actresses Mary McDonnell and Alfre Woodard at the helm.

So now we come to "Silver City," hoping as always that Mr. Sayles will have a lot to say about something meaningful. And there certainly are issues to contend with:  dirty politics, environmental pollution, breaking immigrant-labor laws and hurting people while you break them, trying to get state (Colorado) government officials to cut regulations on property to the advantage of real estate developers, and so on. Again environmentalism is a high priority issue for Mr. Sayles, along with the chance to take aim at President Bush in creating the character of Dickie Pilager. Pilager (Chris Cooper) is a "dummy" candidate for Governor of Colorado; that is, he's out there to win so that those behind him can run the state government their way. Pilager is a caricature of Mr. Bush, but that sort of thing is common these days. Actually the movie is not about Pilager, it's about a "loser" named Danny O'Brien, played by Danny Huston, the son of the director John Huston. (You may look for similarities with his father, but they will not be found physically - rather they are in the distinctive voice, if you listen carefully.)

Danny O'Brien used to be a good reporter until his sources dropped out on him in a big criminal story. He also lost his girlfriend. After being fired, he became an investigator for a detective firm, but he's not doing well there either. He does get hired by Richard Dreyfus, the candidate's publicity manager, to find out who is doing nasty things to the campaign like planting a floating dead body in a lake where Pilager is giving a speech for the video cameras.

Of course, Danny's investigation turns up the nasty things the Pilager family is doing behind the scenes. But mainly the script, written by Mr. Sayles, is really interested in introducing many one-scene characters who seem to come in for a day or two's shooting and then move on to some other movie's location. Just look at the list of "supporting" actors brought in for this movie:  Kris Kristofferson, Daryl Hannah, Michael Murphy, Tim Roth, Ralph Waite, Thora Birch, and Miguel Ferrer. Here Mr. Sayles can arrange scenes with these actors, a little here, a little there, let them go, and call this a story. It's a sorry thing, but most of them were incoherent. Their speech is so muffled we simply can't follow what's going on. Luckily Mr. Huston and often Mr. Dreyfuss could be understood. Otherwise it would have been hopeless.

All that happens is that Danny goes from one character to another trying to put the puzzle together. Doesn't that sound a lot like a TV plot? Many TV detective plots?

Mr. Sayles has good intentions; he really does want to attack what's wrong in our society, but when he doesn't tell the story like a story and lectures instead, or doesn't let his characters (and actors) develop and be real and just uses them to make his points, then it fails. The project fails because "Silver City" fails to do the job that needed to be done.

It seems as though Mr. Sayles wanted desperately to get this movie out before election day so that he could affect the country's future, but in rushing through the whole thing, he did forgot to make a good movie. And that is what the audience comes to see. We can only hope that he will come back with something well done next time. 

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