Main Street, the movie

Last night I watched Horton Foote's Main Street. The movie has a strong cast, headed by Colin Firth and Orlando Bloom. It examines a moment in the life of Durham, North Carolina, hanging on by a thread and offered the lifeline of toxic waste storage. Mr. Foote, who wrote the screenplay for Trip to Bountiful and adapted To Kill a Mockingbird, was noted for his explorations of the lives of ordinary people facing ordinary life events. In the case of Main Street, people are facing the collapse of the city, after the decline of the tobacco industry. In this case he takes us into the confusion of the old, the grief of the middle-aged as their children move away, the frustration of young people who have to leave for a future. He also examines the ever hopeful search for a future for the city, so desperate that its leaders are even willing to consider bringing toxic waste to town. Main Street is a tidy a summary of what I've seen in my trips.