[Previously paywalled] This morning on Facebook Michael McDaniel passed along a conversation he had with AI Writer about Bill Forsyth‘s Local Hero. He asked the software which character is the actual “local hero” of the title. The AI said it was eccentric, beach-dwelling Ben (Fulton McKay)
“Wise old Ben is the only Ferness resident person who refuses to sell his land to Knox Oil and Gas. Ben is a symbol of the old way of life, and represents the values of community and tradition — a reminder that there is more to life than money, and that some things that are worth more than oil,” blah blah.
HE dispute: “Ben is an eccentric old coot who doesn’t care about anything but his own notion of basics — living in his beach hut, having enough to eat and enough firewood to keep warm with — and he certainly believes in his own theology. Ben believes, quite properly, in the stars and tides and eternity and sand granules. He’s the soul of this half-mystical film — the sardonic, good-natured fool on the beach who allegedly grasps the whole cosmic equation.
“But that little handful-of-sand trick he plays on Peter Reigert‘s MacIntyre is a tiny bit cruel. On top of which Ben is obviously complacent and calm about depriving the residents of Ferness of a huge payday that will make their lives much more comfortable and secure. Ben is not morally wrong in his priorities, but he’s also a bit of a shit. There’s certainly nothing heroic about the guy.
“Local Hero is not Ben’s story, of course, but the story of MacIntyre’s spiritual awakening. As the film begins Reigert is a brusque Houston oil executive, ‘a telex man,’ no girlfriend and no pet, skimming along and not especially bothered or moved by anything or anyone. But at the end ‘Mac’ is a changed man. For the first time in his adult life he’s begun to feel strong emotions about fundamental things, and has fallen in love with Jennifer Black‘s Stella, a married Ferness woman, and at the very end he’s rocked by heartbreak.
“Local Hero delivers one of the saddest ending of any movie, ever. But it’s moving for that.”
Facebook’s Rex Gordon: “I don’t recognize the movie that the AI watched. There is no evidence that Ben is kind or generous. He shows no traits that represent ‘the values of community’; he’s a loner who keeps himself apart from the community (the type who only has one cup for visitors. He obviously knows the stars and tides, but there’s no other evidence that he’s wise. I can’t think of a scene in which he helps anybody else, although he helps himself to more than his share of food at the cèilidh. The community hates his stubborn refusal to sell the beach. But Ben is “a reminder that there is more to life than money and things worth more than oil.”
Facebook’s Derek Davidson: “At least the AI gave a thoughtful answer. This has me thinking what does it actually mean by hero anyway? Hero to who? I assume all the town are still taking their buy out anyway to make way for the observatory? If it’s Gordon, is he hero for selling the town out? We see Mac (presumably) calling in the end. In one year, will any of those people in town even be there to return to? Gordon and Stella I assume will move away… it’s not such a happy conclusion, even if it’s not strictly an Knox Oil site.”