Political satire offers plenty for the menu, problem is that there are too many items on it.
In many ways, a political campaign is not that much different from a marketing campaign for a film release. You might have the right candidate saying the correct things but that won’t necessarily guarantee a success – just ask former pres. Jimmy Carter’s about his re-election results. It seems that Newmarket films might have found themselves in the same sort of predicament. The indie house got the Mel Gibson crusade right, but John Sayles’ newest after (Casa de los Babys) is that uniquely rare case where you get the ideal auteur filmmaker, an intelligent matter of discussion for the narrative, a gold-star ensemble cast and a strategic release date but with an end result that gives off a 2nd place vote result.
Silver City is to Bush and his scandalous reign as Wag the Dog was to Clinton’s Monica affair, but the lack of effectiveness in this comedy-noir dud may have very little to do with the recent popularity of the political-minded films and approaching election eve, but more to do with the entire pacing of the film and the overabundance segments. Accompanying a conglomeration of all things that are wrong in government is a Chinatown-esque clue-finding, crime-solving piece that sees a former journalist’s (Danny Huston –21 Grams) life-reaffirming good deed be handedly swept underneath the carpet and away from the spotlight. Silver City is awfully fishy, commencing with an intriguing sequence where the governor fishes out a big problem and the rest of the film unearths the corruption behind power and wealth with Sayles satirical tone impregnating the dialogue.
Sayles’ text draws plenty of similarities between his Silver City discourse and all the historic backlog of the person fronting the current Iraq situation, better yet, actor Chris Cooper (Adaptation) as Dickie Pilager clones himself into a Dubya with near perfection. Unfortunately, Sayles is out to make this character into a puppet and the narrative evades digging at this character’ roots – it might have been nice to spend more time in the saddle of the “user friendly†candidate than away from him. For the most part, the film becomes a spring board for a discussion about everything that is wrong with government – ultimately, the text explores how many crooked people are out there protecting secrets and spreading lies, but the narrative’s list of items to cover (or uncover) expands a little too large. Toxic waste, fraudulent practices, backend real-estate deals, immigrant workers add up to being too much and every added turn and added character to the film hinders the intended provocative make-up and noir charm as witnessed in some of Sayles other politically-driven works.
It’s a film that flies to low on the ground, and as a result Silver City hardly dispenses the needed sharpness, or edginess to make this a required viewing. The tone works here, however, the insight is a little overtaxing and unbalanced in its delivery.
