Les Cowboys
Thomas Bidegain’s Les Cowboys was a fascinating French remake of John Ford’s The Searchers. While it seems that it would hard to look past the similarities to the well-known Western, Les Cowboys is able to hold its own as an important film. The film begins with Alain’s daughter, Kelly, running away with her Arabic boyfriend. When her family does not her from her, Alain decides to take matters into his own hands and look for her.
The film draws upon the search that John Wayne’s character, Ethan Edwards, goes on to look for his niece that was kidnaped by Native Americans. Ethan and Alain both share hatred towards the Other; in The Searchers, Native Americans and in Les Cowboys, Arabs. Alain searches close to five years before he himself dies in a car accident. Until this point, the storyline was almost identical to The Searchers. Ethan does not perish on his journey because John Wayne never dies in his films. I feel that Les Cowboys seems more realistic in that it shows that people are not invincible. However, this throws a theoretical wrench into the adaptation. Where does the film go with its John Wayne now gone? So, Kelly’s brother then decides to continue to search for her through volunteering to work in the Middle East; she has constantly been on the move and has been located in this region. Georges finds himself connected with a human trafficker who does not help in the way he said he would, thus he decides to search on his own. He sees the Kelly’s boyfriend and follows him to his house. Georges finds out that Kelly was no longer married to him and was unsure of her whereabouts. They get into a scuffle, where Georges accidentally shoots, kills him and is arrested. Also, the ex-boyfriend’s wife was arrested because the authorities thought she was connected to Georges as a spy. Georges is eventually rescued from jail by the French embassy, and chooses to rescue the woman, Shazhana.
Once Georges returns to his village in France, the villagers are very against Shazhana due to her Otherness: she is Arabic and Muslim and after September 11th, which is featured in this film, everyone is on edge. Georges does not understand why people can see everyone as equal. Flash forward a few years, Georges marries Shazhana and they have a child. Georges ceased his search for his sister, until Kelly’s ex-boyfriend’s father visits him and said that she had been sighted. Georges decides once last time to look for his sister in which he finds the convince store she worked at; she had been divorced for quite some time and had two children. They never say anything to each other, but they lock eyes, acknowledge each other and go their separate ways.
This film, to me, is more powerful than the original. Les Cowboys offers a modern interpretation of modern events, just as the original did, but this film shows that it actually has understanding of the Other. It shows the back and forth debate of acceptance between in each race. I think that the final scene where there is no spoken word, just reaction shots, encompasses the enter goal of the film. It does not matter where one ends up or the journey they take, as long as they are safe and happy that is all that matters. This is what The Searchers failed to accomplish in that it keeps the hatred of the Others alive and shows that acceptance is not necessary. Les Cowboys is a way to show the progress, although full acceptance and equality has not yet been achieved.
I could not recommend this film anymore. It is a beautiful display of film as an art through the cinematography and through the story. Go in with an open mind and not that it is just a remake of the American classic.
Room
Lenny Abrahamson’s Room was a powerful display of one woman’s struggle to provide normalcy for her son in a hostile situation. Ma was kidnapped at the age of seventeen and was impregnated by her captor. The audience comes into their lives seven years later, Ma is now twenty four and her son, Jack is five.
The films opens with a review of Ma and Jack’s daily routine inside of room, which is actually a shed in Old Nick’s, the captor, backyard. They wake up, eat breakfast, watch TV, run around for exercise. It establishes that this could be considered normal, but it is far from it. They only receive food when Old Nick brings it, he spends the night every night with Ma while Jack must hide in the wardrobe, etc. While Ma knows life outside of room, Jack does not. He believes that what he sees on TV as flat and imaginary. Ma is happy to comply only because she wants to provide as normal of life as she can for Jack. However, Ma reaches her breaking point and realizes that they must escape. In order to escape, she must convince Jack of the outside world. He is very resistant because all that he knew was room, but chooses to believe his mom. Ma comes up with a plan to pretend that Jack is sick and needs to be taken to the hospital. When Old Nick refuses to take him, Ma decides to have Jack pretend to be dead; once in the car, he is supposed to escape and find the nearest person for help. Jack is able to escape, give enough information to the police, and rescues Ma. The rest of the film is dedicated to the both of them adapting to the world around them. Despite it being Jack’s first time in the real world, Ma finds it to be the hardest. Jack is full of wonder is willing to explore, while Ma is stuck in the past and trying to hold on to what she had before she left. She is unable to cope and tries to take her own life. While she is in the hospital, Jack continues to learn and be the strength his Ma needs. The film ends with them visiting room one last time. After being in the real world, Jack realizes how small room truly was and that what he has now is beyond a better life.
This film is beautifully crafted from the simplistic story to the cinematography. It is astonishing that a story that is not extravagant can be so moving. The use of the camera as a way for the audience to see the world through Jack’s eyes was truly gorgeous. All the adjectives in the dictionary would not encompass what this film is. So, see it. You will thank me.
Black Mass
Scott Cooper’s Black Mass is gritty, violent, and still manages to be a strong film despite its blockbuster appeal. Johnny Depp is James Whitey Bulger, a notorious gangster, from South Boston that decides to make a deal with the FBI. As the film unfolds, it is shown that this deal is just as corrupt as Bulger was.
The beginning of the film portrays as Bulger as citizen of the community; he cares about the people of South Boston. He is the leader of the Winter Hill gang and was in constant battle with the Italians of North Boston. The violence continued to grow, and rumors began to spread that the Italians were plotting to kill Bulger. John Connolly, FBI agent, was an old friend of Bulger and thought that if they had him on their side, they would be able to break down the Italian gang. Bulger made it clear that he did not want to be labeled as an informant, but rather, was protecting himself and his gang. As the film progresses, Bulger continues to kill, despite the FBI’s request to not to, anyone that he feels has betrayed him or knew too much. Also, the FBI becomes less and less the authority figures and more on the side of Bulger. The fascinating part is that those FBI agents do not seem to notice. It is not until it is pointed out to them that they are actually just as corrupt as the gang. They did not have to abide to Bulger and what he said; he was working for them. I guess the appeal of being a part of the in crowd with Bulger was enough for them to lie and cover up what he was doing. Eventually, this all caught up with them. The FBI agents were reprimanded and many of the Winter Hill gang members were sentenced to long jail times. Bulger, however, managed to stay on the run for sixteen years and was captured in 2011.
The film, despite the negative press it has received, was enjoyable. I found the story to be interesting even with reports saying that it consists of mostly fiction. I felt that Johnny Depp did an incredible job taking on the role and was quite convincing as a creepy gangster. Also, the lighting only added to eerie feeling in the film. My only reservation about the film was the violence, but a gangster film without violence seems to be strange. So, I would recommend this film, but is it a cinematic masterpiece? No, but it is worth seeing in theaters.