The Straight Story
As Alvin Straight drives his lawn tractor across Iowa's rural roads, the rural road becomes a place where he and those around him reexamine themselves and achieve things they perhaps had not thought to do before. Alvin himself embarks on the trip after turning down offers of help and suggestions of ways to make his journey easier, saying that he has to make the trip his way (his way being by driving a vehicle not made for that type of long-distance journey and sleeping in a trailer made of an armoire). As he interacts with others on the road, his journey opens the door for him to impart wisdom and share memories--by leaving his comfort zone for the open road, Alvin likewise leaves some of his inhibitions; he talks about his family to the young pregnant runaway (who then realizes she should return to her family), his painful war memories with another veteran, and so on. He leaves his home as a stubborn old man who hasn't spoken to his brother in a decade and arrives at his brother's house as a man who wants nothing more than to repair his relationship with his brother (and when Alvin thinks Lyle may not be home, he looks almost defeated--the whole journey prepared him for the moment of reunion, and he may be denied that at the very end of the road).