Local Hero is perhaps the finest cinematic character study not of a specific person but of an entire village and the languorous way of life it nourishes, a town so stubbornly timeless, it turns out, that it can survive even the predatory attention of capitalist forces.

Career-driven “Mac” MacIntyre is sent by the oil company who employs him to remote Ferness, a Scottish village that time forgot, to negotiate a purchase of all the property in order to have the village replaced by a large refinery. The subtle charms of Ferness, however, eventually overwhelm Mac, and he begins to question his complicity in the destructive scheme.

Bill Forsyth’s deft direction strikes the perfect balance between humorous fairy tale and urgent social drama, achieving an effect that verges on magical realism. Romantic, funny, substantive, subversive — Local Hero will have you convinced that a better world is not only possible but inevitable.