After watching this film last night, I must say that I completly disagree with these statements. The movie was incredibly slow, racist and I could not relate to it at all. as a viewer in the 21st century. The story takes place in Texas, just after the Civil War where Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) is welcomed home by his brother and family after fighting for the Confederates. The first sign of racism shows in Ethan when his brother introduces him to his adopted son, Martin, who is part indian,. One day, Ethan and Martin as well as a few others go out on their horses and the tention is high between Ethan and Martin. after about 40 miles out they find massacured cattle in the dusty lands and Ethan immediaty knows that it is a bad sign. When they return, the brother's house is burned down, most are dead, and the two girls, Lucy and Debbie are missing. Ethan and Martin go searching for the missing girls and quickly find Luch, raped and murdered. Angered and saddened, they set out to find Debbie.
This is literally the entre movie. The search for Debbie. It spans a matter of five long, dull years, of which, you couldn't tell because there is nothing that really shows the passing of the time. For example, Martin does not age physically or emotionally throughout the entire movie. This frustrated me because as a viewer, you are more connected to the characters rather than the actual plot, but I couldn't connect to Martin because he never grew up. He never learned from his mistakes or even changed at all.
Once they finally track down Debbie, they realize that she has forgoten who she is and has become branded with the indian trait. Ethan's racism boils and goes so far as to try and kill his only living niece rather than rescue her! Ethan, the supposed hero, turns out to be a pretty nasty guy. He can't control his anger or his desire to kill (that sounds like some kind of psychopath to me) and is unable to form any close relations to anyone because he thinks he is better than everyone and is right all the time. In the end, Ethan does save Debbie and everyone lives happily ever after, but the audience doesnt. Well, at least I didn't.
I hadn't especially noticed that the characters (except for Debbie) remained unchanged until you pointed it out, but this is certainly one strong downfall of the film concerning the viewers' relationships with the characters. While it is true that the film is long and does seem to drag on a bit with a pace that at some points seems to match the five-year arduous journey of Ethan and Martin, I believe that there is a purpose for this. It seemed to me that Ford means to demonstrate the hardships and endurance that it took for Ethan and Martin to continue on the journey. Although it is not extremely evident, it did seem to me that some character growth took place as a result of this. Ethan finds a part of himself in this journey and realizes it when he ultimately takes Debbie into his arms and embraces her, rather than killing her, and Martin, who could very well stay behind and marry Laurie, learns the value of perseverece and self-sacrifice in order to do what's right. While somewhat tiring, I believe the film does have positive qualities, and although not immidiately apparent, I do believe that the main characters exhibit a level of growth.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it did take a little too long and seemed to go in circles (they're so close, but then another year passes) but it still managed to keep my interest, likely because it wasn't simply dialogue. I also disagree with the review because I cannot get past the ever present racism. Everybody that is not a full-blooded caucasian American is at risk. Even the few shots the Mexicans are in make them look unintelligent and almost cowardly, which I think took away from the movie. Today we may look at it as a lesson, but what was learned in 1956?
ReplyDeleteLike Mara said, I didn't really notice the character development until you brought it up in class and I completely agree. As the viewer you cant really tell it is over the course of many years except when they show the seasons change which in itself was a little strange. The only slight change you see in characters over these drawn out five years is in the fact that Ethan didn't end up killing Debbie. Also, I didn't feel a relation to the movie either but when I thought about it I believe it is because of the genre. We talked about how "The West" is a completely made up place which therefore makes it hard for us to relate in any way. We are not used to watching these films and I think that is what made it more difficult.
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