An American classic
Jamakaya | Milwaukee, WI | 09/10/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
""Lone Star" is a gripping murder mystery set in a Texas border town. It keeps you entertained while exploring a profound theme: the borders that divide us, whether between countries like Mexico and the U.S., between parents and children, races and classes, citizens and immigrants, myths and reality.
"Lone Star" was written and directed by the acclaimed indie filmmaker John Sayles. Sayles's films are slow-paced but in a good way. They include multi-dimensional characters and are intelligently written with good dialogue and realistic human conflict. If you have patience and stay with the stories, you will be richly rewarded. Sayles created an unforgettable portrait of coal miners struggling to start a union in 1920's West Virginia in "Matewan." He chronicled the creeping corruption and loss of idealism generated by the Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919 with "Eight Men Out."
In light of all the venomous debates about immigration these days, "Lone Star" is one of the most thoughtful and prescient movies of the last 20 years. It deserves a much larger audience than it got on its release in 1995. On this DVD, it looks great in its wide screen format. It is truly an American classic.
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One Great Movie
John Wright | Occupied Mexico | 09/08/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An often overlooked American classic so well done that you will forget you are watching a movie. It is a bit hard to follow as it tells a story in flashbacks--jumps from the present to the past. But it is a great story of a subject that is overlooked in American Cinema--the clash in the Southwest between the Anglos and the Mexicans, and the misery that was heaped on the Mexicans by the Anglos. It is a story that has been going on for almost 200 years but has yet to be told. After seeing this you will understand the saying, "Mexicans never crossed the border, the border crossed them.""