I was asked this question after I had watched the film for the 3rd time, I answered mac at first then changed my reply to all the villagers.
Any Thoughts, wonderful film.
Will
I figure it's Ben, the one guy unwilling to sell out and who ends up saving the town after convincing Happer to build offshore.
shareIf you look a little further back, you'll find a post that discusses this question. My opinion is that it is Ben.
shareIt's Ben.
Without a doubt.
The local hero is obviously Gordon Urquhart. He negotiates the deal with Mac and secures the future of the villagers.
He runs the bar/hotel and also the estate office.
He stays on and Mac goes back to the states.
Poignant moment at end of film as the telephone box rings to the outgoing Mark Knoffler song "Coming Home"
Surely the point is that it could be any number of people. To decide one way or the other produces an answer to a question that does not require one. The title seems to be posing the question to its audience, who is the local hero? The case can be made for almost any of the characters and raises further questions about what a hero is to different people.
shareIsn't it great that such a cool film, that I am watching at this very moment, still draws attention?
The hero is Mac. Ye, ye, you are going to say he is not local. That is not the point. He is the hero for the locals. Unlike everyone else, it is Mac they all make friends with. He is the one they wave goodbye to. He is the one that is in the middle of making these people rich, AND they still get the Happer Institute. OK, he did not make the Happer Institute happen, but he is the icon of the deal, the seed of it happening. And that's the beauty. Not your average hero. Not all heroes are like William Wallace.
And when he gets home, he wants to be local. :)
I watch this movie to remind me of real people. Amen.
He did make the institute happen though by his urgent phoning of Happer to tell him about the sky. Even during the Ceilidh he dashed out to call Happer to tell him about the Aurora.
shareIt was Mac who found his humanity. It was Mac who kept phoning back and telling the boss man about the sky. If it weren't for his own fascination with the sky and telling Happer about it, Happer would never have come. They're a friggin oil company, they would have sued Ben off his own property with barely a wink and a nod. People are naive how rich these guys are.
shareYou can't 'sue people off their own property'.
shareMac was the only one who was asked for his autograph!
shareI think that it is Mac - of course the irony is that Mac is selected to go because of the belief he'll have some affinity with the villagers as 'his' people when, in fact, he isn't descended from the Scots at all. That 'things are not what always what they seem' theme is then carried on with the villagers rushing to embrace the oil company rather than fight them and the company itself endinbg up doing something positive for the community rather than flattening it.
shareAbsolutely. It's Mac. At the very end, as he's about to take off in the helicopter, one of the villagers asks for his autograph. Say no more.
shareI think it is certainly Mac but not in the sense that he is the hero of the film necessarily. The title refers to the fact that Mac is seen as a hero by the villagers because he comes from a rich American oil company ready to pay them lots of money for their property and they are excited and welcome him as a hero. The irony is of course that he ends up not wanting to be a hero to them in that way but wanting to have the very simple and happy life they lead instead.
shareMac. He's the one they all hailed and they treated him like a king.
Ben was too small a character to name the film after and tonight I noticed for the first time that he is very highly billed in the film.
Wonderful film. Like a nightcap when you need one.
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"Those who travel the highway of crime must pay the toll."
I remember watching a BBC children's Saturday morning TV programme when the film came out where Bill Forsyth took 'phone calls from the audience. He was asked this very question and turned it on the caller, asking who they thought it was. The caller replied 'Ben' and Forsyth said that he agreed.
shareAfter reading all the speculations I gotta go with Ben. Good arguments for each, but he IS the guy who actually saves the town and still gets his neighbors some American money (even if not all they expected). You don’t have to be a main character to be a big part of the movie and he fits that bill. But I fully respect the opinions of others in this matter.
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