Rent Local Hero on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Bill Forsyth
Directed by: Bill Forsyth
Starring: Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson, Fulton Mackay, Burt Lancaster, Peter Capaldi
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
An American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.
Verdict
It's a study of people and a contrast in big city and small town living. These aren't new concepts, but this movie does such a good job with the subject. An oil exec heads to a small town to buy the land it's on. While you might expect the conflict is a town that doesn't want to sell, it becomes an exec that doesn't want to buy. He has the nice job and fancy car, but in this village he's found something he lacked and didn't even realize it. Can he still complete his task and demolish a town that's eager to cash in?
It depends.
Review
Oil exec "Mac" MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) is sent to Scotland to buy a village so the company can build a refinery on the location. He's sent because his name sounds Scottish.
The first couple scenes show us the busy state of Texas and Mac's office, but in Scotland it's small town living. There are no cars and the only phone is a single booth. Most of the town wants to sell, tired of trying to make ends meet. It's a typical story, but this is well done. Mac is established as materialistic and fond of his Porsche. He came to destroy, but ends up falling in love with the way of life. It's completely different from Texas.
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| Peter Riegert, Peter Capaldi play Mac, Danny |
Part of this, Mac, like all of us, is told what to chase and what's important. You need the nice job and fancy car. Mac achieved that and he's likely never seen a small village like this. Now he's here experiencing a different pace. It's an exploration of contentment. Mac ostensibly has it all but through this village realizes he's not happy. He likes the village and wants to stay, trying in vain to persuade Gordon (Denis Lawson) to switch places with him.
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| Peter Riegert plays Mac |
Characters are well done with some depth. Even Danny (Peter Capldi) makes friends in the town. Mac's boss and his boss's therapist are interesting. That helps set the stage for the end. We wonder what Mac will do. Will he sabotage the deal and stay at the village? While it is a happy ending, it's not quite that predictable.
At the end Mac is back to his normal life in the busy city. He never once longed to live in small fishing village until he visited one. Ignorance was bliss, but he got a preview of an alternative. While he left it behind, maybe he'll end up there again.
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