The Milagro Beanfield War

A film about water rights, set in a small town in New Mexico. Joe decides to plant beans in a field that has been idle for years. The water he uses to irrigate it is not legally his; the water rights in the area have been transferred to a large tourism development. So a simple piece of farming becomes a legal and political matter at once. The town divides. Some support Joe, others fear losing the jobs the development would bring. On the state and company side there is an effort to settle it without letting it grow. The register is not realist; the narrative is deliberately fabular. An old man talking to his dead friend, and an angel figure wandering about, come directly from the magical realism of Latin American literature. The source is John Nichols's novel. It is Robert Redford's second film as director. Rubén Blades, Sonia Braga and Christopher Walken are in the cast. Dave Grusin wrote the music and won the Oscar for original score. A pleasant choice for anyone who likes films that treat social questions in a light register. For a viewer expecting hard criticism, the film softens the conflict and ties its ending to an optimistic place.