Local Hero Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Fulton Mackay Director: Bill Forsyth While Iran and Iraq were fighting around the oilfields along their border, in year three of the bloodiest Middle Eastern war of the 20th century, America's appetite for the black stuff was growing exponentially. At the same time, Glasgow-born director Bill Forsyth delivered a low-key oil story that delighted the critics and did huge box office around the world. Local Hero is the affectionate, funny, humanistic and gentle story of how a Scottish fishing village managed its encounter with Big Oil. And the film has aged well: beautiful rural Scotland and big bad Houston, Texas, are strikingly contrasted, while its characters slowly reveal themselves, each developing through the narrative with wry humour and tenderness. Despite the subject matter, there are no real villains here, just individuals with foibles and weaknesses, and dreams, and who cling to the questions we all have: what is the point of our lives? Where are we going? And, where have we come from? The bewitching cinematography of Scottish seascapes and skies serves to illuminate these riddles. The action opens in Houston, where Knox Oil and Gas is drawn to the possibilities of new oil reserves off the coast of Scotland. And duly, Knox functionary Mac MacIntyre (chosen for his Scottish name) - a nice turn from actor Peter Riegert - is dispatched to the sleepy fishing village of Ferness to persuade its residents to allow the building of a Knox refinery there, or buy the village if necessary. While the villagers try to get the measure of their visitor in a city-slicker suit, MacIntyre - a prisoner of his watch, the phone and the telex machine (this was the pre-digital era, so substitute BlackBerry) - feels out of sorts. He's suddenly in a different world, one that is slower, more in tune with the cosmos. Less abrasive. And he grows to like it, with childlike awe. In one scene, MacIntyre leaves his wristwatch by a rock pool to gather shells contentedly from the beach. And the lapping waves of the North Sea wash the timepiece away. This is the kind of metaphor that makes Local Hero so magical. Eventually, the village's unofficial mayor presents MacIntyre with a figure of US$20 million. And it's a deal, or so it seems. A party is held to mark the agreement. But it's premature because, unknown to the major players, there's still a wee problem. A salty old seadog by the name of Ben (Fulton Mackay), who lives on the beach in a primitive shack made of driftwood, is the owner of some prime Ferness real estate. And Ben is not interested in selling - at any price. Everyone's suddenly stymied and complications unfold. But ultimately this feel-good film does yield the happy ending you always knew it would. The film found a global audience on its many merits and through its powerful message: there's a commodity infinitely more precious than oil. It's called time.