indians – Sat In Your Lap

Before The West Was Won

***This Review Contains Spoilers***

Since most Western films take place within the time period of 1830 – 1890, it’s interesting to encounter examples set earlier in the history of the North American frontier, with The Last of the Mohicans (based on the novel of the same name by James Fenimore Cooper) being set during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Although shot at San Bernardino National Forest and Yosemite National Park (both in California), the story itself takes place in modern-day Upstate New York. So can a film set that far east in the modern-day USA still classify as a western? I digress…

“The pale faces are our friends. Go to Fort Yonder and tell them of the danger that threatens.” The British stronghold of Fort Yonder will soon be under attack by French forces; thus, the women and children are to be evacuated to safer Fort Edward, with two of these women being Cora Munro (Barbara Bedford) and her younger sister Alice (Lillian Hall). The main emotional beat in The Last of the Mohicans is the forbidden interracial love between Cora and the Mohican warrior Uncas (Alan Roscoe). “Surely among his own people he is a prince”, utters Cora on her first sight of the striking warrior. The performances of the two stars are not dramatic; however, the film’s use of the classic Kuleshov effect helps create an eroticism which alongside their chemistry, as well as simply having a woman with a shirtless, well-toned man within a confined space, you can really feel the sexual tension between the two. Perhaps this chemistry however was not manufactured, as Bedford and Roscoe would go on to get married (twice, no less).

In stark contrast, however, to the princely, male beauty that is Uncas, is Cora’s fiancé, the cowardly Captain Randloph (George Hackathorne), who, memorably in one scene, tries to kiss Cora’s hand in front of Uncas only to get friend-zoned. Likewise, any Romeo & Juliet-style love story isn’t complete without the classic male love interest having a secret meeting at the lady’s window scene. Cora herself, however, is not denied her own heroism, sacrificing herself (on two occasions) to become the squaw of the villainous Magua in order to spare her sister.

The ever larger-than-life Wallace Beery brings gravitas to the role of Magua, with his intimidating presence as he stands around flipping that knife. In the 1930s Beery became known for his pudgy appearance and lovable lug persona; however, this earlier Beery actually had an athletic build. Magua is introduced as “an Indian runner in service of the British”, but soon reveals his true colours, as a sympathiser for the French and the rival Huron tribe. The battle sequence in which Magua and the Hurons assault the British fort is rather D.W. Griffith-like. It also features the nightmarish image, in which one of the Huron men climbs into a broken stagecoach to pursue a woman and her baby. Through two pov shots, the Huron crawls towards the camera with his protruding eyes and knife in his mouth. He then grabs the woman’s baby from her arms and throws it into the air (to which I presume the baby meets its end). The Last of the Mohicans observes the Native Americans from a dignified perspective, with heroes and traitors being equally distributed between both the whites and the natives.

The Last of the Mohicans is a handsome production, although it’s not clear who directed which parts of the film between the two directors, Maurice Tourneur and Clarence Brown. Regardless, there are many stunning scenery shots captured in glorious depth of field, from the sun rising over a mountain to the striking use of silhouetted soldiers in trench coats or Indians against the sky. The film is also particularly keen on using cave entrances as a visual framing device, even capturing the rays of the sun entering the caves. Sadly, as of writing this review, the only copies of The Last of the Mohicans in circulation are beat-up, scratchy prints, and none accompanied by particularly great music scores. Hopefully, in the future, the film will get the boutique treatment.

The film’s climax, with the untimely death of Cora and the subsequent final battle between Magua and Uncas, is exhilarating stuff – silent film melodrama at its finest. Taking place through a series of medium shots and long shots as the two men fight amongst epic vistas of towering cliff sides and raging waterfalls to metaphorically showcase the lust and the passion. The fight between the two warriors is a genuine brawl, featuring some impressive choreography between stuntmen topped with some intense tumbling down of steep hills. In the end, however, no one wins, with Magua himself succumbing to a fatal gunshot as his body falls down a waterfall. Get ready to see this trope repeated countless times for the next century.

Writes With a Keyboard

It’s more than apparent that Kevin Costner has such love and reverence for the Hollywood western, as he resurrects the genre one decade on from the infamous flop that was Heaven’s Gate and continuing the long tradition of epic Hollywood filmmaking in Dances With Wolves. I find it refreshing to see westerns which include the Indian point of view and the insight Dances With Wolves provides into the culture and lifestyle of the Sioux as well as hearing a language not often heard is fascinating. The Indians in Dances With Wolves are humanised with moments such as when John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) endures a relatable awkward moment as he sees Kicking Bird (Graham Greene) having sex in the tipi they are sharing, to moments in the film in which the Indian children of the tribe have the desire to be grown up and act older than they are. The Indians, however, are not sanctified either and the film avoids the noble savage stereotype; some members of the tribe are vicious killers and openly express their prejudice. The white man on the other hand is shown killing mass amounts of Buffalo only for their horns, throwing their trash on the ground and polluting the water. More significantly the film shows the Sioux’s rival tribe The Pawnee working in co-operation with the US military to take out the Sioux, presenting the conflict between settlers and natives as not a simple good/bad dichotomy – Dances With Wolves presents both villainy and nobility on both sides.

Although not many people share the fondness I have for Kevin Costner and dismissing him as a dull, monotone actor, I point to Dances With Wolves as a showcase that the man is a great screen presence as he carries a four-hour-long movie on his shoulders with no dialogue for long stretches of time while exuberating his commanding narration voice. The passage of time in which John Dunbar very slowly over the course of a four-hour runtime becomes assimilated into the Sioux culture, learns their language and becomes more emotive and open from his previously quiet, stoic self represents an astounding piece of storytelling. Unfortunately, certain individuals will look upon a movie like Dances With Wolves and decry it as offensive for its display of so-called “cultural appropriation” because apparently, the embracing of other cultures doesn’t represent unity between races but thievery of one culture’s ways by another. Dances With Wolves is a film that speaks to our humanity and shows how race can transcend culture. The scene in which Dunbar is being held by the US soldiers as they assault him, denying him to return to his newfound way of life as well as killing his wolf companion Two Socks and using his diary as toilet paper is beyond painful to watch. I’ve become so attached to the character at this point that I can’t bear to watch everything he has worked towards being destroyed.

I can’t say if Dances with Wolves is a movie intended to carry an environmental message but that is an impression I get from it from the film’s contrast between the resourceful Native Americans to the more polluting white men (Costner would go on to later produce and star in the eco-thriller Waterworld). John Dunbar’s desire to see the western frontier before it disappears is comparable to the last great frontiers today which are apparently at risk of eventually disappearing if modern climate change accounts are anything to go by. John Dunbar is a man who doesn’t want to take advantage of the land but to simply admire and bask in it – who needs CGI when there’s a world of scenic and natural beauty out there begging to be captured on film? Simply look at the film’s majestic landscapes of the badlands accompanied by John Barry’s score which evokes a real sense of wonder. “Why go out to a location when you can just create it on a computer. Isn’t that so much easier?” – sigh. Likewise, the famous buffalo hunt scene is the real deal. How do you recreate a buffalo hunt? Why get huge herds of buffalo of course. Like the chariot race in Ben-Hur, history is brought back to life with herds buffalo as far as the eye can see with stuntmen on horseback right in the middle of it all; pulling off something as huge as this and retaining continuity is astounding. Dances With Wolves doesn’t come off as cold, callous Oscar bait but sadly it is another movie in which its Best Picture win has hurt its reputation; “Dances With Wolves is just that movie which beat Goodfellas”.