Valentine’s Day is coming up, and while I can’t say it’s my favorite holiday of the year, I’m not so heartless as to disavow its existence. So in accordance with this week, I’ll start to present more romantic fair during this time period each year. Now this does not mean that I’m going to start writing about Romantic Comedies or anything like that, because generally I hate them with a passion. I see the trailers for films such as Because I Said So and others, and an uncontrollable gag reflex has me convulsing violently, which I’ll admit is probably pretty annoying to the other theater patrons around me when this happens. Thankfully, my girlfriend is perhaps the greatest one in the entire world, and the only thing close to a Romantic Comedy she’s made me go to in the last few years was Shaun of the Dead.
Again though, this being the week for Valentines, I’ve decided to put on hold my current obsessions, which are watching Jackie Chan and Charles Bronson kick the crap out scumbags, to write about a movie with more romantic aspirations. In fact, the movie is even based on a famous book, during an important historical period. This isn’t to say that my five regular readers should be disheartened. The movie is directed by mayhem maestro Michael Mann, features epic battles, several men being impaled, several incidents of scalping, one man being burnt to death, another getting his heart ripped out and eaten in front of his children, and the movie has running; lots and lots of running. On top of all this awesomeness, the film has a moving love story with great characters and manages to shy away from being too sentimental.
The Last of the Mohicans Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeline Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig and Wes Studi. Directed by Michael Mann
No less than the fifth adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s much maligned, but still classic novel, Michael Mann’s version of this story is the most moving and streamlined attempt at this epic ever produced. Mann has even admitted to not having ever read the book, stating that this version was based more on the 1936 film directed by George B. Seitz than any other source. I’ve got to hand it to Mann, because he knew exactly what he wanted to do with this story and made it happen, creating a rollicking adventure and romance on an epic scale. In just over two hours of film, Mann takes a larger-than-life story and whittles it down to its foundations, letting his images do the work for him to create a unique experience.
This is typical of Mann’s work, as he’s always been able to create a distinct visual style for each of his major works. His adaptation of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon, entitled Manhunter, was infused with an 80’s motif that rang similar to his hit TV Series Miami Vice, with its brilliant use of soundtrack and over the top color palette. Heat relied heavily on its grandiose cinematography, which was the only stage that could hold the first showdown between acting titans Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in a single film. The Insider, his Oscar nominated Thriller starring an amazing Russell Crowe, had a more claustrophobic feel, as Crowe’s Jeffrey Wigand starts to suffer the pressure of exposing the secrets of the cigarette industry to the viewing public of 60 Minutes. For Collateral, Mann used digital cameras to capture a grittiness in its look never before experienced in his films, and finally the director brought Miami Vice to big screens by taking Collateral’s look and opening it up considerably, giving another film another unique look.
With The Last of the Mohicans, what Mann and cinematographer Dante Spinotti achieve is nothing short of a visual miracle. Without the help of CGI or visual effects they manage to turn several locations in North Carolina into landscapes that are worthy of those found in Peter Jackson’s version of the Tolkien Middle Earth in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Stunningly beautiful are the only words to describe the world surrounding our characters throughout this movie. Managing to take American locations and making them into a backdrop that looks to be alien, just as it would have been to the frontiersmen of the time period, is an amazing accomplishment. That this film did not win, and was not even nominated for, Best Cinematography is an unforgivable oversight. Especially, considering a ho-hum effort like Hoffa got a nod in its stead.
For me this film’s themes can be described by two words. The first of these words is verisimilitude. The meaning of the word speaks of a quality of the appearance of truth or reality. I think this is very much the case with this movie, especially when compared to some other pictures that have tried to depict similar eras. For instance, in my opinion something has always sat uneasily with me about The Patriot. The Mel Gibson vehicle is a handsome epic with tremendous action, but to me there’s always been something really artificial about the movie. Perhaps it’s the film makers making Mel Gibson spout lines like “Am I upset about Taxation without Representation?” or perhaps the movie just looks too clean from the CGI settings and soldiers to its REALLY bright costumes, but the movie just never feels real in the way The Last of the Mohicans does.
Everything from The Last of the Mohicans’ look to its language feels as if it belongs in this setting. Its dialogue never feels forced, and honestly Mann tries whenever he can to tell the story with images instead of words. The movie’s soldiers look tired and haggard from years of fighting and the battles themselves are fierce and violent on a level that is shocking for a picture that pre-dates Braveheart. The French and Indian War seems to come to life in front of us, never having to go too deep into the conflict’s politics to make you understand the story. All we know is that our heroes are caught in the middle of this war, and must somehow wade through a myriad of physical and emotional trials to be able to survive to love one another.
The picture of verisimilitude in this film would be Daniel Day-Lewis’ Hawkeye or Nathaniel Poe as he is called in this version (This is one of the many changes that Mann made from the novel, in which he is actually named Nathaniel “Natty” Bumppo). According to the Internet Movie Database, the actor spent months living in the wilderness, hunting and fishing for his food just as Hawkeye would have had too.
Apparently his strategy worked, as the man simply IS Hawkeye, from the way he moves to the way he subtly shrugs off British authority in nearly every scene he is with a British character. Day-Lewis is at one with his surroundings here, from actually looking as if he had lived there all of his life to being able to nimbly speak through heavy dialogue that would indicate the character’s origins as a white man raised by Native Americans. The actor would also be a prime example of the second theme I mentioned earlier that keeps repeating as I watch the movie.
That word would be kineticism. Plain and simple, this is the very definition of a moving picture. You hardly have time to catch your breath as this film moves from set piece to set piece. Much like Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, nearly every frame of this movie contains some sort of movement, from raging rivers to armies of constantly dashing, tomahawk wielding braves. Moving around through most of this picture, would be Daniel Day-Lewis’ Hawkeye. Seemingly in every other scene this man is not only running, but running and shooting, or running and fighting with tomahawks, or running and saving women’s lives. Honestly, I’ve never ever seen a character or a Historical Epic that moves quite like this one.
Falling under both categories would be the film’s love story between Hawkeye and Madeline Stowe’s Cora Munro. While Poe and his adopted father (Russell Means) and brother (Eric Schweig), try desperately to protect Munro and her sister Alice (Jodhi May), a wonderful affection between the two leads builds and builds. Cora Munro is no wilting flower of typical historical romances. Stowe plays her with grace and strength of will, making her worthy of Hawkeye’s devotion and passion. Madeline Stowe is truly an understated gem in this film. Literally no scene between Stowe and Day-Lewis is wasted. Their deep connection begins to emerge from simple looks, and finally culminates in a rapturous union amidst the battle weary forces of Fort William Henry in the film’s middle section.
This is the driving force of the picture, aided heavily by the wondrous score by Randy Edelman and Trevor Jones, that is one of the primary elements that allow Mann to be able to tell this story visually instead of with heavy dialogue. Because of all involved, this works immensely. Its simplicity and straightforwardness gives it enough emotional resonance that it feels real, and epically stylized at the same time.
Of course, what’s an epic without a grand villain? Wes Studi’s vengeful Magua fills that role nicely, as he is a constant force for evil in this film, stalking the Munroe’s only to be thwarted by Hawkeye at most turns. Magua’s final confrontation with their party and his fight with Russell Means’ Chingachgook, which takes up around the last fifteen minutes of the movie, is told with virtually no dialogue at all, only action, violence and tragedy.
The Last of the Mohicans is a masterpiece of stylish and romantic film making. It’s a film that has nearly something for everyone and entertains from its opening frames to its stunning closing minutes. So this Valentine’s Day, instead of fighting over which movie to put in, watch Daniel Day Lewis fight for his love against hordes of enemies. You’ll both be happy by the time the credits roll.
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