1999, 2 hrs, Rated G. Dir: David Lynch. Cast: Richard Farnsworth (Alvin Straight), Sissy Spacek (Rose).

There are two things I took away from director David Lynch's easygoing The Straight Story: breathtaking visuals of the midwest and how much wisdom are elders can bestow on the young.

It is a true story, of Alvin Straight riding his lawnmower from Laurens, Iowa to see his brother in Mt. Zion, Wisconsin. The trip is only a few hundred miles, but in his poor health Alvin can only get there via his John Deere with a trailer hitched behind for shelter and food.

At every stop he makes someone tells Alvin that he's insane to be traveling like this, but to him it is a Rite of Passage for the 73-year-old, a mission where he must visit his stroke-stricken brother and repair the rift between them.

The film is full of wide, sweeping shots of Midwestern farmland that appears repetitive, yet I enjoyed taking it in every time. We are also treated to a number of sunrises in Alvin Straight's six week journey, and I love the shot of the Mississippi and the town nestled between the hills and the river. There's nothing more grand than a town along a mighty body of water.

But my favorite shot is of Alvin's daughter Rose, looking out at night of the yard. She stares contemplatively at the sprinkler when a child's blue plastic ball rolls across the sidewalk. It's a very simple shot, yet I was riveted at the substance of shot a picture. Then a child appears to retrieve the ball and pauses before walking back into the dark. Shots like that stay with you.

The score carries the audience through the film, full of acoustic guitar finger-picking amidst a string section that provides soothing Midwestern nostalgia throughout Alvin's journey.

During the journey Alvin bestows his chronicles of wisdom on those he comes across along the way: a pregnant runaway teenager, a group of young bicyclists and disagreeable twins.

Richard Farnsworth may well deserve an Academy Award nomination for this role. He is a loveable, crotchety old man who has an infectious draw to him, an aura of joy in everything he does. Throughout the film we hear so many negatives about his life, yet he doesn't dwell on them. He uses the experiences as an example of how life should be lived, to see the glass half full, so to speak.

Straight's story is the one you wish you saw on the news: a positive and uplifting tale of how great we are as a people and how strong and affective every person has the ability to be.