Lone Star, writer,
director John Sayles
Nine out of ten
Lone Star is an excellent film that was
produced in the same year with The English Patient and Fargo
The writer John Sayles had to compete with the
latter, Shine, Jerry Maguire and Secrets and Lies for the Oscar and Golden
Globe
Chris Cooper is formidable as Sam Deeds, the
sheriff of Rio County, in the Lone Star State of Texas.
At the debut of the movie, some human remains
are found in the desert and finding the identity of the dead man will become an
activity that uncovers many secrets from the past of the town.
That skeleton had been buried for decades, but
the dental information and the sheriff star found help identify it:
-
It was Charlie Wade
Many narratives have a good and an evil
character and this Charlie Wade has been as evil as one can get.
Notwithstanding the fact that he had been the
sheriff, he did not respect the law and abused his position.
He took money from any illegal activity that
took place in the small town and punished anyone who tried to cross him.
That retribution was more than cruel and it
meant most often violent beatings, but also killing men.
Charlie Wade has a confrontation with Buddy
Deeds, the father of the sheriff that the viewers see in the first scenes of
the film.
The narrative involves travelling in the past
to learn about the different events that explain the gruesome discovery from
the desert.
Buddy Deeds has been a much-respected sheriff
who took over from Wade, after the latter…disappeared.
The common wisdom is that after the open
conflict, Wade had been killed and then his body disposed of by Buddy.
Witnesses or those who have suffered at the
hands of Charlie Wade recount ghastly scenes from the past.
However, Sam Deeds is unhappy with what he
finds about his own father, who has been committing crimes.
Although Buddy has been not just much better
than the man he replaced but seen as most inhabitants as a kind of protective
angel, this sheriff did get people to work at his house, was involved in
various illegalities and cheated on his wife.
Nevertheless, Wade was something else…an
outrageous brute, which stole and killed with impunity until his end came.
In one instance, he walks into this bar where
he takes money as a protection fee and abuses his power.
One new waiter is humiliated and made to
understand who the boss is by despicable, sadistic means.
At another moment, a Mexican man who takes
illegal refugees across the border has a problem with his truck.
Sheriff Wade drives his patrol car and stops to
ask about the traffic with people and mentions, as always that he has to take a
cut out of every business.
The sheriff asks about guns and when he is told
that the driver has a hunting rifle, he asks to see that.
This is just a trap and the means to have an
alibi in case he needs one to explain how the man was shot…
Because as the Mexican man is touching the
rifle, he is shot and killed in cold blood, without any reason whatsoever.
There is a love story with a strange twist that
is told parallel with the investigation into the death of Wade.
Sam Deeds has been in love since high school
with Pilar Cruz, the daughter of a prominent local businessperson.
His father has been very determined in opposing
their relationship and making every effort to stop it.
At the end, we see why.
Lone Star is an excellent film, included on The
New York Times ‘Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made List:
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