| Unforgiven is another film competing in my book for the best western ever made. Like Dances With Wolves, it isn�t really the typical western formula at all. Dance With Wolves was more of a sweeping epic film, and had an uplifting, soaring type of mood. Unforgiven could be called the antithesis of Dances With Wolves. Its mood is very dark, and stern and the majority of its violence wouldn�t be considered �action� like Wolves would be. Unforgiven, somehow reminded me of Goodfellas. I know at this moment none of you have a clue why, (except that you think everything reminds me of I Goodfellas) but let me elaborate. Goodfellas took the gangster genre and showed the dark, demoralizing, shockingly violent side of it like no other film did before it (Now you should have a clue where I�m going with this). Unforgiven took the western genre and showed us how the west was almost completely filled with villains and evil men like no other film did before it. Even the hero of the story (Clint Eastwood) had many villainous qualities to him. The main character of Goodfellas was also seen as a fairly immoral, and rough individual. And both films examine evil and their final effect on people lives. The examination begins in the first frame showing us thoughtfully and carefully, by not using too much graphic detail what happened in a brothel one night. Two men cut up a woman�s face and the final results are horrifying for her and the other women in the brothel. They are not satisfied with the punishment Little Bill Daggett, the sheriff, (Gene Hackman) of the town gave the two men, so they decide to combine how much money they�ve earned doing their sinful job and put out a reward of $500 for anyone that kills the two men that scarred the young woman. We see William Munny (Eastwood) for the first time working at his farm with his children when a younger man called the Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett) rides up to him from the horizon and starts to talk to him. The two men go inside his house and talk privately. The Kid wants Munny to be his partner in the killing of the two men, because Munny used to be known to be quite good with a gun (for the wrong reasons his talent was known though). Munny refuses at first and sends the young man off. Later, he realizes he needs the money, so he leaves his home and finds his friend Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) to help him out. The two of them set out and while they are traveling, meet the Schofield Kid again. Now it�s a threesome that is the final group of men setting out to do some dirty work. Munny is quiet, and mentions certain details about his past around the campfires at night but never reveals everything in full-blown detail. Eastwood keeps his audience wanting to hear more, and at the same time develops his character. We know that he used to be a very violent man not stopping for anybody, not caring for anybody. He was asked how many people he killed at the campfire one night and he responded with a hint of guilt saying he didn�t know. He had changed after he got married because his wife helped clean up his act. His wife had died recently of illness (it was suspected by her parents that she would die being killed by her dangerous husband, and the parents were surprised by her real death). Can the man stay a moral man without his wife to guide him? Each of the performances is flawlessly, and startlingly executed. Gene Hackman�s stands out the most. He makes the list for one of the best performances of the nineties. The complexity he brings to his character makes the film twice as interesting. He can switch with such ease between being a totally unreasonable character, to being friendly. Most of the time of course, he is unreasonable and violent. He is a bully in the simplest of words. Hackman inflicts violence upon the people he thinks deserve it with eerie smirks on his face that make the viewer cringe. Eastwood is absolutely the only person that could play William Munny. No other actor could play a tough cowboy with very few redeeming qualities and give the character so much likeability as Eastwood. Plus, he�s probably more experienced in the western genre than any other actor alive. Morgan Freeman is very good in his supporting role as is Jaimz Woolvett. The kid does seem a little annoying at times, by bragging about how many men he has killed, and wanting to kill every second, but that is part of his character. Richard Harris also stars as another seeker of the five hundred dollars called English Bob. He appears earlier in the film. The cinematography is excellent, and although the camera doesn�t pan magnificent landscapes the entire time like Dances With Wolves (for there isn�t any need for the camera to do that in this film), it takes beautiful after-dark pictures of the western town that Eastwood enters and uses darkness and rain to its advantage. It does take a couple pictures of sunsets and the landscape, and those are beautifully done. There is a considerable amount of graphic violence in the film, and some entertaining action sequences. Throughout the film, there are enough sequences of rousing gunplay that the film doesn't seem too dark, but has just the right tone to entertain and apaul at its given times. The script is also excellent, and engages us from the beginning to the end. The disturbing incidents that the script covers are dealt with properly and leave the viewer thinking. Unforgiven is rated R. for fairly constant language, realistic violence, and some sexuality. The first part of the film shows a two people having sex very, very briefly, for not even three seconds. There are prostitutes in the film, and they are seen walking away from Clint�s two partners as they are buckling their pants implying the prostitutes gave them advances on their money (they are also seen in a few briefly suggestive scenes). The language used (although I didn�t hear most of it because I was using a TVG or cuss filter) didn�t seem very vulgar. I know that the F word is only used once or twice. The violence was covered before in this review, and once again it is very intense, but it is not seen as fun, more as disturbing. None of the graphic violence, or sexuality or language is glorified, and most of the violence needs to be in the film for it to make sense. This film would probably be suitable for any Christian (or any viewer worried about its content for that matter) that can stand to see the disturbing violence and appreciates film as an art form and not necessarily as a pure entertainment form. For those who have read the latter paragraph and feel the film passes their moral standing, I highly recommend every moment of this film, especially if you like Clint Eastwood cus this might be his best film. |
| Unforgiven |
| United States, 1992 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity, sexuality) Director: Clint Eastwood Starring: Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Jaimz Woolvett, |
| ****stars |