Released way back in the distant past of 1983, Scottish filmmaker Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero concerns a major industrial corporation’s attempt to buy up the land in a rural community in order to strip it of all natural resources, unconcerned with what effects that will have on the environment or local culture. Thankfully, it’s a huge relief that sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore. We as a society have progressed so far since those primitive days of grotesque greed and callousness, haven’t we? Seriously, haven’t we??

Sarcasm aside, Local Hero makes no attempt at any sort of grandstanding political statement. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it “subtext” given how explicitly it’s laid out, that theme of destructive capitalism mostly remains in the background. The film is really a gentle comedy-drama about a man stepping outside his comfort zone and reassessing his priorities in life. It’s a truly wonderful character piece that, even if very acclaimed in its time, has largely fallen to the cinematic wayside and deserves more attention today.

Title:	Local Hero
Year of Release:	1983
Director:	Bill Forsyth
Watched On:	Blu-ray
Also Available On:	Howdy Roku Channel Various VOD rental and purchase platforms

His job based in Houston, Texas, “Mac” MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) is an ambitious junior executive at a multinational oil and gas company that’s planning to build a new pipeline through the Scottish Highlands. Despite presenting himself as a skilled deal-maker on the verge of shooting up the corporate ladder, Mac lives beyond his means on a salary not nearly as impressive as he wants it to sound (even for the day). Although not a bad or unlikable person, he’s fairly vain, superficial, and has no real relationships with other people. His job is the focus of his existence, and he believes that everything he wants from life hinges on his success at it.

Chosen only because his name sounds Scottish (he’s not actually), Mac is sent off across the ocean to lock down negotiations for an important piece of property on what feels like the outskirts of civilization. This shouldn’t be a difficult task. The company grants him the power to offer an exorbitant amount of money to people who’ve never seen the likes of it and never will again unless they accept.

Accompanied by an eager assistant named Oldsen (a fresh-faced Peter Capaldi, just 25-years-old!), Mac arrives in the tiny seashore village of Ferness, where everyone is friendly and life moves at a much slower pace than he’s used to. Asked to stay a few days and get to know the place before settling the deal, Mac has little appreciation at first for the beauty of the landscape or the local color of the populace, and is eager to get back to his real life in America. He insists on wearing a business suit and maintaining a professional composure at all times, among a group of people who find that behavior a little ridiculous, but not enough so to say anything about it to him. As you might expect from this set-up, the longer Mac and Oldsen stay, the fonder of the place they grow, and the more both of them start to wonder if they’re really doing the right thing.

That’s it, really. The film has no great dramatic stakes. The townsfolk aren’t naïve rubes getting taken advantage of. They’re shrewder than they appear, and almost none are resistant to selling their town and relocating if they get rich in the process. For his part, Mac is under no pressure to wrap up the talks quickly, and no threat of losing his job if he doesn’t. The entire process seems like a formality. The sale is going to happen. The only questions are when and on what terms.

If, on a gut reaction, the prospect of a giant pollution-making factory destroying the area’s lovely scenery while uprooting all the residents from their homes (both of which are true) seems like a terrible outcome, would capsizing the deal really be in the best interest of either side? Are the townspeople actually better off losing out on the money and promises of better lives they’ve been offered?

The characters have their amusing quirks, but are more than stereotypes. They have depth and complexity. Even the oil company’s owner, Felix Happer (the great Burt Lancaster), isn’t some evil corporate oligarch trying to crush all the little people beneath his heel. Happer’s wealth affords him the privilege of indulging other hobbies that catch his interest, astronomy chief among them. On the occasions he’s able to speak to Mac (the town only has one payphone that can reach the outside world), he’s more eager to discuss a meteor shower in the sky than business matters, and implores Mac to report back if he sees a comet scheduled to pass the area. The millions of dollars he’s about to spend aren’t on his mind at all. The movie’s funniest running joke involves Happer’s great annoyance with a nutty therapist he regrets ever speaking to.

The story, also, isn’t just a formulaic fish-out-of-water tale. Even as he comes to love Ferness while he’s there, a question lingers of how long those feelings will last after he leaves. Once he returns home, will Mac pine for the small town where he found brief happiness, or just slip back into his old life? Will he feel grateful to Happer for what eventually transpires, or grow resentful that all his work could be undone at the whims of a batty old man?

As the town does to Mac, Local Hero asks its audience to slow down and give some thought to subjects they might otherwise take for granted. It’s a lovely, unpretentious film about finding yourself, yet offers no easy platitudes for what that should mean.

The Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection released Local Hero on Blu-ray in 2019 as spine #994. Although the sticker on the outside of the keepcase packaging proclaims the disc to be “Director Approved” by Bill Forsyth, the transfer notes inside the enclosed booklet are unusually sparse for Criterion, stating little more than that it was created in 2K resolution by production company Goldcrest Films with some “additional restoration performed by the Criterion Collection.” No indication of the source element (camera negative or something else) is provided.

Given the results, and the atypical choice of a full-screen 16:9 aspect ratio (Criterion usually preserves the original 1.85:1 projection ratio when able), I can only assume that the 2K master predates the Blu-ray’s 2019 release, perhaps by a lot. Image quality is generally soft and grainy, which isn’t necessarily unexpected for a movie like this, but the transfer also has clear evidence of artificial sharpening, including occasional edge halos. A visible scratch around 1hr. 44min. is quite noticeable.

Colors are muted, including much of the scenery and the aurora borealis scene, but it’s difficult to judge whether that aspect may or may not be intentional.

The PCM mono soundtrack is understated by design. It’s almost all dialogue and the sounds of nature (waves on the shore, and so on). Just about the only excitement comes from the sound of military jets flying over the town. A lot of the dialogue was ADR recorded later, and lip sync is a little loose.

Bonus features consist of an audio commentary by director Bill Forsyth and critic Mark Kermode, a then-new interview with Forsyth, a 1985 documentary about the cinematographer, a few 1983 TV interviews and specials about the movie, and a trailer. The booklet has an essay by film scholar Jonathan Murray.