Lone Star (1996)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Lone Star (1996) – J. Sayles

John Sayles would have likely made a good sociologist, if he weren’t a writer and director.  (Or perhaps a cultural anthropologist, given the range of different sub/cultures he has examined across his career).  His films recognise that reality is complicated and that different vantage points (culturally, historically) may result in different interpretations of the same events.  In Lone Star, for some people in the southern Texas town of Frontera, late Sheriff Buddy Deeds was a hero who managed the political complexities of the town’s ethnic mix well; but for others, Buddy was corrupt and self-serving and perhaps even a murderer.  At least that’s the suspicion of the current sheriff, his son Sam (Chris Cooper), when they unearth a skeleton that turns out to be the long missing and truly evil previous sheriff, Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson).  As Sam investigates the murder, he also investigates the history of the town and his own past, including his former relationship with now widowed Pilar Cruz (Elizabeth Peña).  A subplot sees black Colonel Del (Joe Morton) return to Frontera to face his own absentee father and to come to terms with how he has been treating his own adolescent son.  There is a lot more here too, as Sayles crams as much didactic knowledge and perspective as he can into one film.  We visit with local eyewitnesses who offer clues and inspire flashbacks (with Matthew McConaughey briefly as Buddy) that vividly provide more details than we would get verbally.  Across the top, we hear music of the region (steel guitar or Mexican pop). In the end, all the loose ends get tied together, surprisingly so, and I was satisfied with Sayles’ achievement, alchemically blending his (my) lefty political perspective with a mystery plot and (some) real character development. Highly recommended.