Review of The Straight Story (1999) by Lita T — 28 Apr 2008

Many of the critics who reviewed The Straight Story wrote with the emphasis on the director's departure of his usual style. Some argued the most bizarre opening image of any Lynch film is the title: "Walt Disney Pictures Presents a Film by David Lynch" with an overture of the sound of cicadas mixing into the orchestral score. While on the surface the film seems devoid of the usual Lynch darkness, The Straight Story is far from being totally normal. There is nothing normal about driving your lawnmower 317 miles to visit an estranged brother.

While Lynch is associated with perverse imagery and disturbing content, most people forget that many of his films highlight the American Landscape in its many facets. The Straight Story lovingly covers the American West and while it appears to be very simple in its narrative, the limitations of riding a John Deer lawnmower over three-hundred miles creates multiple complexities. Straight must endure varying weather conditions, bodily and mechanical failure, while confronting his own inner demons against the clock. Ultimately the landscape is not just the American one but also the aging portrait of Richard Farnsworth as Alvin Straight, who makes this perilous journey. As in Lynch's the Elephant Man, it is a true-life portrait of a sensitive soul trapped in a failing body.

Lynch courted veteran actor Richard Farnsworth out of retirement to play the role of Alvin Straight. Like Straight, Farnsworth began his career in the rodeo, wore cowboy hats, and underwent discomfort en route whilst suffering from physical ailments. Farnsworth once said, "I identified with the old guy. I've had a few hard knocks in my life." Farnsworth had a serious terminal illness that he kept secret from the production. The fact that he was sick was revealed six months after he received an Oscar nomination for playing Alvin Straight, and after he took his own life to prevent the impending illness from destroying him. The Straight Story was perhaps his finest achievement in his career.

The filming of The Straight Story was completed in six weeks, the same amount of time it took Alvin Straight to make his epic journey and covered his actual route. While most people considered this a mild-tempered film, it still has documented controversy. According to the website CAPAlert, the film fell foul on four out of six categories including Wanton Violence or Crime (depicting the terror of a runaway lawnmower down a hill with the rider), Impudence/ Hate (depicting a lie about personal health to a daughter), Drugs/Alcohol (depicting the consumption of beer), and Offense to God (using God's name in vain but without the four letter word vocabulary). Overall the website gave The Straight Story a CAPAlert a red light because of the "flagrant use of God's name in vain.".

Finally Lynch says, "The Straight Story is an unusual film for me. But I was so moved by the screenplay that soon enough I found myself in Iowa...And although it appears to be calm, there are many things going on." Surely, The Straight Story is no less strange or wonderful than his other films.