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The other day my friend Garth complained that there were too many anti-Bush documentaries out right now. Garth wasn't complaining because he likes George W. In fact, the opposite is true. But after a while the movies all start sounding the same. You can't blame the directors. A year ago when they began their projects, there was a dearth of hard-hitting commentary from the left. Now every artist worth her salt is lining up to remind us that Bush lied, that the Iraq War was a mistake, and that things are getting worse. Once you've seen Fahrenheit 9/11, Bush's Brain, The Hunting of the President, Uncovered: The War in Iraq, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, and The Corporation all within the last three months, well that's a bit much.

Now adding his voice to the din is John Sayles, whose fiction films have often explored the place where the political meets the social. With _Silver City_, which opens this Friday, he's making it much more explicit. It stars Chris Cooper (Adaptation) as Dickie Pilager, the son of a famous conservative politician. Because of his family name (and what a name!--no subtlety points for Sayles), Dickie is well on his way to victory. This suits Wes Benteen (Kris Kristofferson) just fine. You see, Wes is the head of the Bentel conglomerate, and Bentel is anxious to see the evil hand of government regulation lifted so it can resume pillaging Colorado's natural resources in peace.

As the movie opens, though, the Pilager campaign has hit a snag, literally. While shooting a vapid tv commercial at a pristine lake, Dickie's fishing pole accidentally hooks a dead body. Fearful that this negative association could tarnish the candidate's image, campaign strategist Chuck Raven (Richard Dreyfuss) hires a private investigator to find out the body's identity and see if the opposing campaign has planted it as a dirty trick. Soon, washed-up investigative journalist Danny O'Brien (Danny Huston) is on the trail. But what he finds out goes a lot deeper than just a dirty trick.

Sayles fans will quickly pick up the similarities to Lone Star, the director's brilliant 1996 film. In that movie, a dead body was also discovered in the first scene, and its identity transformed a sleepy town. Lone Star also starred Chris Cooper; he had the P.I.'s role, and he was much better than Huston is in Silver City. Part of the problem is that Huston's character isn't anywhere near as rich as Cooper's was in the '96 movie. There, Cooper had fascinating relationships with his deceased father, a Hispanic girlfriend, and other interesting characters in the Texas town. Huston's only connection in Silver City is with an old flame played by Maria Bello. But we only see their relationship in a couple dry scenes, and Sayles doesn't offer us the beautiful flashbacks that he did in Lone Star.

It's clear that Sayles isn't interested so much in characters as he is in professions. His desire to score points about our current political climate requires that we have the candidate and his handler, as well as the skeptical reporter, the slippery lobbyist, the right-wing radio host, and the older, wiser politician. There's also the creator of underground web sites, the candidate's drug-addicted sister, and a shady real estate operative. Each of these is trotted out so that we can see how the unholy alliance of wealth and politics shapes the government we have. And then to pile even more on, halfway through the movie Sayles introduces the issue of migrant workers, another throwback to Lone Star.

Lost in all of this is any sense of character or relationship. Maria Bello is apparently a smart, savvy reporter critical of Pilager and his family. Yet, in a strangely unexplained twist, she's dating the aforementioned lobbyist who's up to his neck in bad dealings. Later, we're told that Bello and Huston had a passionate relationship, but we certainly don't see any evidence of that now. Sayles resorts to telling us, not showing us.

Furthermore, the movie is filled with awkward moments. The dialogue is often clunky, with characters talking to themselves for no reason except to offer some unneeded narrative exposition. Even when they're having a conversation, you get the feeling they're speaking to the audience instead of each other. O'Brien as the central character appears especially lost in all this, an empty hole where the movie's primary motivation should be.

This is particularly unfortunate, given the incredible collection of talent on display. Chris Cooper is marvelous, as he offers a sly impersonation of George W, nailing his mannerisms, his unusual pauses, and that irritating way he purses his mouth. Kris Kristofferson is wasted as the head of Bentel (rhymes with Bechtel); all I could think of was his mesmerizing turn as the sheriff in Lone Star. And Sayles clearly has some things he wants to say about our country, points that would be well taken if they were said with any kind of subtlety. Instead, we get an embarrassing last shot of dead fish literally popping out of a lake. Even if we hadn't been bombarded with this kind of propaganda in the last few months, it would still seem stale. 

J. Robert Parks  9/12/2004