![]() The separations cease to be important except as arbitrary markers of power, and by the end of the movie, all boundaries dissolve, even those determined by race, culture, and family bloodline. What makes "Lone Star" feel so honest and timeless is its insistence that its characters are just human beings, and when they act in cowardly, acquisitive, or treacherous ways, they are behaving in accordance with their conditioning, in ways they may not realize. The result is a web of interdependence that requires representatives of every major demographic group to compromise their values, initially for survival and then (after they assimilate and have children) for land, money, and comfort. ![]() But when you get to the end, you realize they were never really separate-that, in fact, seemingly independent, self determined lives were set in motion decades ago by actions of parents or ancestors that our main players barely knew (or were told lies about). Sayles' script starts out telling stories of white, Black, Mexican-American and Mexican people that seem to be unfolding along parallel lines, with rare points of intersection. As one "Lone Star" character points out, a bird flying from the US to Mexico doesn't see, much less recognize, a border. The phrase Manifest Destiny was even scarier, because it meant the assimilation and conquering was ordained by a higher power. The word 'border,' likewise, can mean everything or nothing depending on who's using it. To them, the word was not a promise, but a threat. The idea of "the frontier" nevertheless defined the self-image of white settlers in the 19th century, and powered the next 150 years' worth of Western fiction, films, and TV series, as well as works in other genres that are essentially Westerns in science-fiction, crime thriller, or action movie drag (see in particular the career of director Walter Hill, who has worked in all four genres but ultimately always makes Westerns.)īut "frontier" means something different to Native Americans, Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and Black Americans who were either displaced from their land or prevented from owning land in the first place. ![]() As the story unfolds, we keep returning to the concept of the frontier as precisely that: a concept, not a real, measurable thing. "Lone Star" is set on the border separating Texas from Mexico in the fictional town of Frontera. And it is the movie that best understands how Texans mythologize and lie about themselves, and how the lying and mythologizing dovetails with deception and self-deception in the rest of the nation, and the world. ![]() It raises serious questions as to the nature of true evil and justice.Released 25 years ago this week, John Sayles' " Lone Star" is the director's best film and the most wide-ranging and sophisticated drama ever set in Texas. Even so, LONE STAR is the most thought-provoking movie this year. The worldview promotes moral relativism, and there are enough objectionable elements to warrant a caution to adults regarding this thought-provoking motion picture. However, MOVIEGUIDE audience should be forewarned that the violence is shocking and graphic, though not gory. Kris Kristofferson particularly performs well as the evil Charley Wade. The actors are thoroughly convincing, and the production quality is superlative. Writer/director John Sayles has done a masterful job of keeping the audience’s attention while he unravels a complicated story-line with numerous characters, flashbacks and subplots. He learns much more than he bargained which involves Sam’s high school lover and Colonel Delmore Payne. ![]() The discovery of the skeleton leads the present sheriff of Rio country, Buddy’s son Sam, to seek the truth about the incident and about his father. Everyone has long suspected that he was killed by his deputy Buddy Deeds, who subsequently became sheriff. Sheriff Charley Wade disappeared one night in 1957. The investigation soon reveals that Charley’s death isn’t the only skeleton that has been long buried. The discovery of Charley Wade’s skeleton in the Texas desert begins an investigation into the victim’s identity and the identity of his killer in LONE STAR. ![]()
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