Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1-Saw a matinee of this yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it despite it being, perhaps, too ambitious.
It's essentially about the frontier era in the late 19th century in America. Starts right before the Civil War. It follows several different groups of people whose lives will eventually cross over as they all move, through desire, circumstance and consequence, towards a singular destination whether they know where they're going or not. It doesn't just follow settlers but a tribe of Apache that are fighting to keep them from coming west.
The thing I really, REALLY liked about this movie is that there are no monoliths in it. The Apache are divided amongst themselves about how to handle things. The settlers are divided. The Union Army is divided. And there is division between the factions when they come into contact with one another. This feels like a very human story and a very American story. And progress can't be halted. Progress often comes with bloodshed. There's a great part where the Apache chief is telling his son, who wants to go to war, that the wagons have started coming and they will not stop. You will kill them. Their children will kill you. Your children will kill their children. And on and on. I don't think the chief was saying not to fight, but more that he didn't see the wisdom in trying to stop it through force of arms. He didn't say that letting it happen was right. Only that since it was inevitable, why waste all the lives?
The American lieutenant in the Union Army tries to discourage the settlers from establishing their own bounty killing system where a scalp earns you money. He says 'how do you know you got the right ones?' The leader of the bounty killers says that 'eventually, we'll get the right ones.' The impication is there that too many of the wrong ones will die in the process. It's also interesting that the Union lieutenant, Trent I believe, says that he can't help them because the Union army has no jurisdiction that far out west. When he comes upon the burned settlement, he asks the survivors if they saw the three graves next to a tree on the other side of the river. The settlers say 'well, that's on that side.' His response is 'And you thoughrt they'd leave you alone just because you're on this side?' It's a great scene.
And all of this is to say nothing of Costner's role in the film as a drifter that take odd jobs and ends up in a plot revolving around a family trying to get revenge when their father was shot by the woman that he had a child without of wedlock. The woman shoots him, steals the baby and runs off. She gives room and board to a prostitute named Marigold, who is expected to babysit the child while she and her husband tend to business affairs. When the family catches up to the mother, things take a bad turn and Costner ends up protecting the prostitute and the child and they end up traveling cross country to God knows where just to stay ahead of the family. Eventually, they (like everyone else) realize there's only one place to go: a town called 'Horizon'. Costner hasn't met any of the other principle characters yet but you know these disparate group of people from different walks and different goals will end up in the same place. That is, in my opinion, an essentially American story.
It has pacing issues. It feels plodding because sometimes it's hard to see where the seeds are being planted and how the branches of these different trees will interlace. As it's a three hour movie, its epic scale sometimes overwhelms the concurrent narratives running simultaneously. But for all that, it's a worthy film to take the time to watch if the frontier era is your cup of tea. It's somewhat romantic and wistful but it is also brutal, harsh and all too graphic at others. It labors to be honest while at the same time trying to keep the romantic idea of America as a foundling nation still struggling to understand itself present throughout. This isn't for everyone. Some will get bored. I found the scenic cinematography gripping enough to carry me through the bits that some might consider dull. It will feel all over the place for anyone not invested in its vision.
3.75 out of 5.
