Now don't get me wrong. It is worth the watch. Go and see it. But, it could be so much more.
Save for the obvious elephant in the room of being a MODERN wild west that STILL makes Native Americans as complex and nuanced as Orcs or Tuskan Raiders, this wild west is still shallow.
I have been doing a ton of research on the Wild West: basically it is just Hollywood fairy tales. WHAT THE GENRE NEEDS IS A SHOT IN THE ARM OF REALITY.
A reality of fascinating and cruel military campaigns during this rapid expansion, an era of slaves and free men (look up Bass Reeves and ask yourself "where is his movie?"), an era of Chinese laborers, an era started by mexican bucaros to become American Buckeroos: My point is that it is so much bigger and rich with conflict and humanity............. that few ever touch upon in fear that reality limits the fantasy.
Have we made so many Westerns that we can't leave the wagon train and a few protestants with guns and recognize the territory and the century that made and ended it as a place of possibilities?
NOPE, this movie seems to say, lock yourself in the kitchen and use only the ingredients we have used and not one spice or new meat. It has to be always about a white guy walking somewhere to get his future whether by farm or theft.
Never about a boxer fighting for pennies in a gambling ring on a sunken riverboat in the Mississipi.
Never a child raised with voodoo as a religion pretending to be a christian to hide in a wagon train, but feeling heart broken and alone to keep the secret.
Not a Chinese railway worker trying to read and write poetry without speaking english, thus he is treated like a particular idiot and punching bag by his overseers.
Not a Native American. God how many stories are in that? The last of your tribe. The last of your language. Seeing your half white children stolen in the night by nearby government officials to be reeducated and not finding them for a lifetime until they completely forgot your face.
No way. Lets not get one drop of that ocean of historical possibility on to this parched grass of a genre. Never. The western shall always be a story of christians on horses with guns on a few hundred miles of nothing RATHER than anywhere near the tapastre of human history.
Save for the obvious elephant in the room of being a MODERN wild west that STILL makes Native Americans as complex and nuanced as Orcs or Tuskan Raiders, this wild west is still shallow.
I have been doing a ton of research on the Wild West: basically it is just Hollywood fairy tales. WHAT THE GENRE NEEDS IS A SHOT IN THE ARM OF REALITY.
A reality of fascinating and cruel military campaigns during this rapid expansion, an era of slaves and free men (look up Bass Reeves and ask yourself "where is his movie?"), an era of Chinese laborers, an era started by mexican bucaros to become American Buckeroos: My point is that it is so much bigger and rich with conflict and humanity............. that few ever touch upon in fear that reality limits the fantasy.
Have we made so many Westerns that we can't leave the wagon train and a few protestants with guns and recognize the territory and the century that made and ended it as a place of possibilities?
NOPE, this movie seems to say, lock yourself in the kitchen and use only the ingredients we have used and not one spice or new meat. It has to be always about a white guy walking somewhere to get his future whether by farm or theft.
Never about a boxer fighting for pennies in a gambling ring on a sunken riverboat in the Mississipi.
Never a child raised with voodoo as a religion pretending to be a christian to hide in a wagon train, but feeling heart broken and alone to keep the secret.
Not a Chinese railway worker trying to read and write poetry without speaking english, thus he is treated like a particular idiot and punching bag by his overseers.
Not a Native American. God how many stories are in that? The last of your tribe. The last of your language. Seeing your half white children stolen in the night by nearby government officials to be reeducated and not finding them for a lifetime until they completely forgot your face.
No way. Lets not get one drop of that ocean of historical possibility on to this parched grass of a genre. Never. The western shall always be a story of christians on horses with guns on a few hundred miles of nothing RATHER than anywhere near the tapastre of human history.
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