# Straight Story, The (1999)

### reviewed by
David Dalgleish

    THE STRAIGHT STORY (1999)

    4 out of ****

Starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, James Cada, Harry Dean Stanton; Directed by David Lynch; Written by John Roach and Mary Sweeney; Cinematography by Freddie Francis

THE STRAIGHT STORY is a breath of fresh air. It winds its way through the American Midwest, the nation's heartland, wide-eyed and open-hearted, steeped in admiration for both the landscape and its people. The admiration is not rooted in misplaced nostalgia or uncritical patriotism, but in simple affection for the kindness and decency of uncomplicated people who uphold values which seem almost archaic in a world of increasing moral relativism.

The relaxed narrative follows the journey of Alvin Straight, a 73-year-old man who learns that his estranged brother, Lyle, has suffered a stroke and decides to visit him. Lyle lives hundreds of miles away, and neither Alvin nor his daughter can drive a car, so he decides to travel by tractor. He purchases a John Deere and hits the open road ... very slowly. Near the beginning of his journey, he meets a pregnant woman, and toward the end he chats with a priest in a graveyard, and in some sense his trip is a voyage from life to death: it encompasses his existence and all he has learned.

The movie wisely does not force the "journey of life" metaphor, but focuses instead on the particulars of each incident. There are no antagonists; there is little inner conflict. The people Alvin meets are, every last one of them, decent, trusting, and considerate. The quirkiest thing about THE STRAIGHT STORY, indeed, is the niceness of its characters, who are lacking in evil or malice. It is strange to think that this should seem so odd, but it does. The movie does not insist on their goodness. The people come across as eccentrics, not saints; as individuals, not paragons. And their actions are reasonable enough: why on earth would you not want to help an old man on a tractor, on his way to meet his estranged brother?

Alvin meets many people. The pregnant woman and the priest, a middle-aged couple, twin mechanics, and more. To some he imparts wisdom; from others he gains insight. The most affecting scene, perhaps, is a conversation in a bar with another older man, who like Alvin is a veteran of World War II. Their conversation becomes, in effect, a mutual confession, as they unburden memories of the war which perhaps could not be shared with others, because the others were not there, and would not understand. The exchange is intensely moving, and is but one of many moments in THE STRAIGHT STORY which illuminate the essence of the characters' frailties and virtues, depicting them with compassion, and without censure or unearned sentiment.

The camera hovers lovingly over familiar American icons--an Ace Hardware store, Alvin's John Deere tractor, combine harvesters tilling amber waves of grain, wood-panelled saloons with neon beer logos and sports memorabilia on the walls--but it is the people who are the heart of the movie, and none more so than Alvin. He is portrayed with gravitas and dignity by Richard Farnsworth, whose unaffected performance deserves all the praise it has received. Alvin is plainspoken, kindly, and self-effacing, but it is evident that he has experienced much hardship. We learn some of it, including traumatic experiences in the army, difficulties experienced by his daughter, alcohol-fuelled fights with his brother--but he has survived it, and in surviving, found strength.

Drawing on this strength, he undertakes his journey with determination, patience, and gruff good humour. Everyone he meets stops and listens and learns from him. It is easy to see why. He has a quality which commands respect: a look in his eyes, a set to his grizzled chin, which suggests that he has seen much in his time and that he should not be trifled with. He has earned people's attention. If we met him, we would pay attention too.

The movie is by David Lynch, and has been called a radical departure from his earlier work. It does indeed provide a much-needed change of pace after his past few films, which are for the most part inferior reworkings of the obsessions he elaborated with such unsettling genius in BLUE VELVET and "Twin Peaks." Even so, the hushed humanism of THE STRAIGHT STORY is not entirely new. There is a childishness apparent in much of Lynch's work: the perspective is often that of a male adolescent, with a naïve appreciation of the beauty of the everyday, a muddled and terrified sense of sin and evil, and an irreconcilable confusion about the sexual nature of women. This sense of adolescent simplicity is often interpreted as ironic, but I think it is meant to be taken at face value. The arrival of the robins at the end of BLUE VELVET and Agent Cooper's unwavering devotion to the ideals of law and justice, for example, are not meant to invite our cynicism: rather, we are asked us to set aside our skepticism and embrace their pureness.

If such heartfelt goodness is difficult to accept as unironic, it may be because the nightmare desires which underpin Lynch's vision of reality overwhelm the uncomplicated sense of innocence which his work at times strives to retrieve from a fallen world. THE STRAIGHT STORY, however, bestows upon us that sense of innocence in its fullness. Unlike Lynch's other works, the film does not address sexual desire, which in Lynch's world is the source of all anguish. The perspective is, if anything, that of a child rather than an adolescent--hence the 'G' rating--but an ancient child, both innocent and knowing.

The mature perspective of THE STRAIGHT STORY finally humbles most other movies, including many of Lynch's own, which, for all their brilliance, can be rather juvenile in some respects. The film is long and slow, but never unfocused. It is as efficient as a parable, and as revealing. It tells its lessons in a thoughtful, unhurried manner, and it does not raise its voice. It expects us to pause and reflect. It assumes that insight comes not from needless speech, but from quiet contemplation, from taking the time to look at things without superficial distraction, and the assumption is borne out for the duration of the film. Simple in its telling, complex in its wisdom, it is an American classic, and it reconfirms David Lynch's status as one of the great American directors.

Review by David Dalgleish (subjective.freeservers.com) -- January 8th, 2000

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