Dir.
John Sayles, 2004, USA, 124 mins approx
Cast:
Maria Bello, Thora Birch, Chris Cooper, Richard Dreyfuss, Daryl Hannah, Danny Huston, Kris Kristofferson, Tim Roth, Billy Zane
In the American west, Senator Dickie Pilager (Chris Cooper), a dim-witted local politician, is on the campaign trail, hoping to become Governor. However, during the filming of a TV advert that depicts Dickie fishing by a lake, a corpse surfaces in the water. Chuck Raven (Richard Dreyfuss), Pilager's campaign manager, is quick to act and wants to establish some sort of damage control, so that Dickie's image is not tarnished. Raven wants to know how the corpse managed to be at the film location just as the Senator happened to be filming there. Convinced that the appearance of a corpse at the lake is not a coincidence, and that someone is trying to ruin Dickie's campaign by associating him with the body, Raven hires private detective Danny O'Brien (Danny Huston) to find out the truth. But as O'Brien digs deeper into the mystery around the corpse, he uncovers evidence of corruption, which could be linked to Dickie. In his attempt to discover the truth, O'Brien meets many intriguing people along the way: his ex-girlfriend (Maria Bello), a mysterious member of the Pilager family (Daryl Hannah) and a corrupt businessman (Kris Kristofferson) who's backing Dickie's candidacy for Governor.
Silver City avoids dealing in broad caricatures of politicians or opting for easy humour at the expense of contemporary American politics. Writer/Director John Sayles takes a refreshing approach by looking at both the richest and the poorest of American society. As well as examining the motives of the politicians and the people who endorse their campaigns, the film often focuses on peripheral characters, particularly the immigrant community in America , who are often ignored by politicians, and overlooked in political films. These characters include a chef (Sal López) who helps O'Brien in his investigation, and who's eager to be a private investigator (and who almost steals the film) and a cleaner at O'Brien's office (Alma Delfina), the type of character who is usually seen but not heard in a film, but who assumes a brief but prominent role in the drama. Although Dickie is a major character and his presence hangs over the film, we never really get inside the character's head. Cooper does a great job at communicating Dickie's awkward public persona, but he is surprisingly not the main focus of the film. Instead, the film concentrates on O'Brien, and Danny Huston portrays the private detective as a man who is smart enough to see through the lies and corruption around him, but who also feels powerless to do anything about it. O'Brien's professional and personal life is in the doldrums after a story that he doggedly pursued in the past ended up ruining his career. The investigation surrounding the corpse and the questions it raises, particularly in relation to Dickie, reignites O'Brien's dormant journalistic instincts and offers him a chance to redeem himself.
Overall, Silver City is less a caricature of a Bush-like politician and more a scathing indictment of irresponsible government officials and craven rich people in positions of power. We see how these people influence and exploit policy making to their own advantage, mislead citizens, exploit immigrant workers and destroy the environment, all in the pursuit of massive profits, which is brought starkly home in the film's chilling closing shots. Although it's a mystery film, Silver City is less about "whodunit", and more about why they did it, and what effect it has on people. The message that power corrupts and that politicians do not have their citizen's interests at heart is hardly revelatory stuff, particularly now, with most people either seeing films like Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), or seeing politician's decisions regarding the war in Iraq being examined in scrupulous detail by the world's news media. Ultimately, the film is as much about O'Brien taking back control of his life as it is about the state of US politics. The mystery at the heart of Silver City is a personal story as well as a broad political one, and it doesn't offer any easy answers to the troubling questions that it raises.
© Martyn Bamber, July 2005
Silver City is released on region 2 DVD on 14th November by Tartan Video
Features include:
- DD2.0, DD5.1 & DTS 5.1 Surround
- English HOH subtitles
- Exclusive interview with Danny Huston
- Making Of Documentary
- John Sayles commentary
- Original Trailer
|
