Review of Amigo (2011) by Jamie B — 11 Oct 2010

It's been five years since a Sayles movie reached UK screens - the comparatively starry "Silver City" - and "Amigo" is a noticeably sparer, rougher-hewn production, an enforced move back in the direction of grass-roots filmmaking that aligns the director closer to his artisan subjects.

His use of actors is unexpected, resembling a cut-price Malick: with Cooper having scarcely more screen time than he did in "The Town", and the (long-awaited?) re-emergence of DJ Qualls postponed until the halfway mark, it's down to non-professionals and only semi-recognisable faces - chiefly Garret Dillahunt's clenched Lt.

Compton - to hold the fort. Without the dramatic finish of, say, "Men With Guns", Sayles's previous excursion into jungle warfare, its earnestness threatens to become monotonous - how many indigenous weaving interludes does one film need? - yet "Amigo" grows in weight over its two hours, helped by the sparky performances of the film's non-English speakers.

Sayles remains a keen, attentive student of the lessons to be gleaned from history - keener, you might say, than many at the top level of his government - and this latest restates his already considerable claim to being America's cinematic conscience.