The Rural Road in "Straight Story"
In Straight Story, Alvin Straight's journey on the road is quite different from the journeys of others in road films we've seen. While Alvin's journey takes place strictly in a rural setting, in a film like Set it Off, the urban setting serves as a confining factor in the women's attempts to get out onto the road and "leave behind" the city. In this sense, the rural road serving as a space for self-actualization, realization, and revelation in Straight Story becomes very clear.
While on the "open road", Alvin stops in a small town where he stays for awhile and meets a couple and another man about his age who takes him to the bar with him. While at the bar, we see Alvin confiding in a fellow veteran the secret about a soldier that he accidentally killed. This experience clearly scarred Alvin for his entire life and accounted for the alcohol abuse he took part in. He hadn't told nearly anyone about this until this man that he just met. He begins to cry but the viewer can see a weight being lifted as he shares this with the other man. After this scene, when he gets to the town where his brother lives, he's able to enjoy just one beer after years of not drinking because of his problem. When asked if he wants another, he can say no so in a sense, he has risen above his past addiction and has foudn a sort of reprieve after being on the road for so long. The rural road has allowed Alvin to release a lot of the built up tension he has been living with and allows him to share things about himself he never would have had he stayed in Iowa. All the shots up towards the sky and looking across the vast fields suggest a sort of openness in the rural setting that is really conducive to the experience Alvin has. When looking at this in comparison with something like Set it Off, differences between the urban and rural settings and the opportunities they provide for certain types of revelation are quite different. While the urban setting often serves as a place where characteres we've seen need to get away from, in Straight Story, had Alvin went to an urban setting his experience would not have been as fulfuilling given his specific life experiences.