When my friend informed me that we were going to see the new David Lynch picture, I must admit that my first reaction  was of the 'uh-oh' variety. I will not pretend that I am blessed with the strongest constitution, but as my cinema-going partner tends to be rather squeamish, I envisioned that another invite  to weirdsville would not go down too well. Lynch may be famous for being a visionary, imaginary maverick of contemporary American cinema, but he is equally infamous for creating images that are not for the faint-hearted; though his tragic portrait of The Elephant Man was affecting precisely  because of its subtlety and deliberate understatement, this  compassion was soon undercut by the unsettling explicitness of subsequent pictures Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart.  Determined to show that there was something rotten beneath  the white-picket fence stereotype of America, Lynch drags his audience through a series of nauseous situations; like Alice, we have ended up on the wrong side of the glass, and it is not a pleasant place to be, as violent sex, sexualized violence and non-linear, skewed plotlines are all waiting for us, baring their claws and gnashing their teeth. 

Though I had managed to sit through the entire run of Twin  Peaks--in which Lynch's warped idea of entertainment was  watered down significantly, but not completely diluted--and  survived with my nerves intact, I still envisioned that the director's new picture The Straight Story was going to be another heady brew of explicit sex, messy murders and  provocative imagery. Thankfully, I could not have been more wrong, for in another year of cynically marketed and  emotionally hollow films, The Straight Story does exactly  what it says on the tin; for once, Lynch plays it straight, and his picture is more rewarding and ultimately uplifting because of it. 

One shouldn't be put off by the phrase 'based on a true story', words that normally denote a tediously dull experience lies ahead for viewers; most seasoned critics would bark at the tale of a seventy- three year old man travelling across Iowa on a jumped-up lawnmower to make amends with his estranged brother--the director's ubiquitous, um, lynchpin Harry Dean Stanton--who has just suffered a stroke. Yet, our expectations are confounded again; The Straight Story contains keenly observed characters not normally found within that genre, still managing to be emotionally affecting without ever straying into the dangerous territory of schmaltz. 

The truly great thing about the film is that it can be read on so many levels; the eponymous clue in the title refers to the main character Alvin Straight--played with sincerity by old-timer Richard Farnsworth--who may stubbornly refuse to heed any pleas from his daughter--Spacek--to stay at home, yet also becomes a pun that plays with the concept of a strictly linear plot dealing with a strictly linear journey. However, it is the characters that Straight meets along the way on his modern day pilgrim's progress that really draw the viewer in close; Alvin's gentility touches each subsequent situation, whether it be chatting with the spiritually and literally lost hitch-hiker or painfully reminiscing with another war veteran in a bar. It is the only scene that pulls the film off on a tangent from its otherwise smooth course, but it is worth it, holding soliloquys that come close to equaling Quint's lengthy monologue in Jaws. Something special unfolds in the purposefully understated dialogue, as the two men recount their guilt and regret that they were ever involved in the Second World War, a scene that perhaps says more about war than in anything Kubrick or Spielberg have ever done. 

For once, a film manages to be intelligent without relying on the violent and the profane, stirring without being overblown and it is in these quiet moments that the film excels and despite the fact that Straight's lawnmower moves at around five miles per hour, the picture never drags. Instead, it is a welcome change of speed for director Lynch, its warmth and new sense of humanity coming as a stark contrast to the hard-edged brutality of his earlier work. In the face of the all-out action ethics of recent cinema, some may find that the film is a little lacking in luster, but then the strength of The Straight Story lies in its ability to sneak up on you, rather than hit you square in the face. 

Yet, the really straight thing about this movie is its simple yet profound message and its unashamed belief in the redemptive power of the human spirit, a bold move by Lynch to swim against the flow of coldhearted mainstream cinema. There is obvious spiritual merit here, relief that a film can gently massage your faith rather than knock it on its back. 

By the way, my friend liked it. 

Ross Thompson 2/06/2000