Lost in the glare of Michael Moore's 2004 pseudo-documentary Fahrenheit 911 was independent filmmaker John Sayles' far more incisive filmic take on politics called Silver City. While Moore's film was a frontal assault on the George W. Bush administration, Sayles' film was less a jab at Right Wing politics, although it clearly was, and more an assault on the sliminess of politics in general. I was surprised at how good the film was, considering all the negative reviews it got from critics. Is it a great film, in league with Sayles' best? No. But it's light years beyond typical Hollywood fare- especially bigger budgeted films like the Clinton era's Wag The Dog.
The film it most resembles is Roman Polanski's Chinatown, although set in contemporary Colorado, and this film having a lighter feel- in terms of the cinematography and humor.... t's a shame that this film was swamped by so many other screechy films, such as Fahrenheit 911 and Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ, for it deserved it, despite its bad ending. The best thing about Sayles is that he is unpredictable- save that he writes and directs stellar adult dramas, and given his last several films, that aspect of his work seems to be in no danger of diminishing.

There is really nothing to watch. This vehicle was really just a forced opportunity for the writer to spew hatred with petty, mean-spirited bitchery.

I had to wonder about the big names in this film. Are they like-minded with the little writer? Or just desperate for a mortgage payemnt?

I found the film very slow for the first half but it picked up a little and I managed to sit through it and actually enjoy it. I think the main problem is that John Sayles cares too much about the subject matter and loses the aesthetic distance it requires to make an enjoyable movie. I totally share his political concerns and only wish that this could have succeeded. He piles horrific offense on top of horrific offense and I got bogged down. The romantic encounters of the star, Danny Huston, with Darryl Hannah and Maria Bello, relieved the dreariness and made the film more watchable, at least for me.

The cast is excellent, and as others have mentioned, Chris Cooper does a pretty humorous version of the man we all love to hate, although I actually think he overdid it a little. I always enjoy Kris Kristofferson and would have liked to have seen more of him as the arch villain.

It's a film worth seeing, for the importance of the message. The last scene, of dead fish floating on the water, with someone singing America the Beautiful in the background brought tears to my eyes.

I put this movie alongside "The Candidate", "Bob Roberts" and "Wag the Dog" for pointed political commenary that is also entertaining.

When I first saw the trailer for "Silver City" I assumed it was going to be a political satire that was out to savage George W. Bush. After all, the trailer shows us Dickie Pilager (Chris Cooper), a (1) conservative candidate from a (2) political family running for (3) governor in (4) the western state of Colorado whose political ideology is revealed in (5) torturous sentences that make no sense. There are five points of commonality between Dickie and the current occupant of the White House. The fact that John Sayles ("City of Hope") wrote and directed this 2004 film also seemed like a hint, and if you watch the "Making of" featurette on this DVD he comes out and says that "Silver City" is a response to what Bush has done as president. But since Dickie Pilager becomes a relatively minor character in this film, you cannot really say that Bush is only target. Then again, Dickie's campaign manager is named Chuck Raven (Richard Dreyfuss), and that is within easy nudge-nudge wink-wink territory of Karl Rove, so maybe we just need to cast the net of Sayle's disdain a bit wider.

I watched the trailer for "Silver City" as soon as I finished watching this DVD because I was thinking that I had been the victim of some sort of bizarre bait and switch. But there is the bit from the beginning where Dickie hooks a dead body in a Colorado lake while filming a political ad, and the character of Danny O'Brien (Danny Huston) is featured prominently as the person investigating the murder. So it is my fault that I got all excited about Dickie Pilager being a political joke when the movie wants to go in another direction. The problem is that where the movie wants to go is rather convoluted and ultimately unsatisfying, especially if you already knew that politicals was a cesspool and that if a candidates lips are moving it is safest to assume they are lying.

What happens in "Silver City" is not so much a plot as it is a chain of relationships. O'Brien is the private eye investigating the case who used to be dating Nora Allardyce (Maria Bello), a reporter. She thinks there is a connection between the floating corpse and the election campaign. Nora is engaged to Chandler Tyson (Billy Zane), a lobbyist, who appears to know where the bodies are buried. Meanwhile, O'Brien hooks up with Madeleine Pilager (Daryl Hannah), Dickie's sister, whose illegitimate child derailed her Olypmic skating career. She would love to get sink her brother's campaign, which is being kept afloat by Wes Benteen (Kris Kristofferson), who apparently owns all the mines in Colorado and since he already has a Pilager in his pocked as a U.S. Senator (Michael Murphy), just needs that one's son as governor to cover the other half of his rear end.

Also running around in this film are James Gammon, Tim Roth, Mary Kay Place, David Clennon, Miguel Ferrer, Alfre Woodard, and Thora Birch, so there is no doubting Sayles' ability to assemble an ensemble cast. It is just that are of the piece and parts of "Silver City" end up constituting a whimper rather than a bang. Obviously my heightened expectations are coming into play here, because I was expecting a scathing political satire and what Sayles hath wrought is more of a sad acknowledgement of the way the world works. At one point a character allows that people have lost their ability to be scandalized, and that is probably as good an explanation as any as to why Sayles appears to be pulling his punches. However, my disappointment at the end result causes me to round down on this one. Fortunately this movie clearly clicks with some people and hopefully it will for you, but I am not to be counted in their number.