Archive '03 - Nashville (Movie Review)

I always hesitate when I am asked what my favorite movie is because I know that my answer will lead to confusion and skepticism (that is when I'm not changing my mind on the subject.) That’s because my favorite film is usually Robert Altman’s NASHVILLE (1975) and, unless you are a total film buff, you have probably never seen or barely heard of it.Watching it again on DVD, I have lost none of my affection for this movie. No other film has ever involved me as deeply as NASHVILLE and it speaks to me in way I can’t really define.

It’s magic is not just in its ability to manipulate the viewer’s emotions. Hitchcock and Spielberg do it all the time. Altman does it so subtly that it’s easy to forget that you are watching a movie.NASHVILLE focuses on 24 characters in and around the music scene of Nashville. There is no lead and no big star dominates. The dialogue is mostly improvised and the performances are real. There is literally not a false note in the film. Each character is invested with such vivid traits that they become memorable in their first few minutes of screen time.

Many of the characters are country singers of varying abilities and we get to hear a number of songs all the way through. Much of the music is wonderful, but Altman uses the songs to further our empathy for the singers. He does this by having the actors write their own songs, which reflects the role they are playing. Eventually it becomes clear that the huge cast is meant to represent a microcosm of the city and the country as a whole.

In a nutshell, NASHVILLE is about our obsession with celebrity and our willingness, as Americans, to let hero worship lead us into apathy. Music and politics are the connecting themes. Altman never states these themes explicitly, but by the end, the message is so clear that a shot of the American flag becomes haunting in its context.Altman uses a number of devices to tie everything together. Everyone is in some way attached to the homecoming of a Loretta Lynn type country star or the presidential campaign of an independent candidate for President who seems to have predicted Ross Perot.. The candidate is never seen, but Altman reveals in his commentary that he had a real campaign team created and told them to “invade” his movie and just show up to interrupt the improvisations.

I purposefully haven’t described any specific sequences because each scene has resonance due to its context. In a traditional movie, the folk singer seducing a married woman is a plot point. Here, it’s a moment of great drama because of what we already know about the singer and the woman. There are no Hollywood clichés here.There is a “surprise” ending that’s well telegraphed, but its implications make you rethink everything that has come before. Altman has practically forced the viewer to care deeply about these characters and the effect of them all being drawn together at the end and singing “You may say that I ain’t free, but it don’t worry me,” is stunning.

I may have made this sound like a somber art film, but its also very funny and entertaining. NASHVILLE is a film like no other. I can’t see anyone who loves movies not loving this one.