Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Seraphim Falls / USA / 2006

Westerns are such a rare occurrence nowadays that Seraphim Falls offers a double pleasure: the chance to see a western in a cinema in the first place; and one that works remarkably well. Director David Von Ancken knows his westerns and that knowledge has fed into this revenge story, obviously with influences above all from The Searchers and Anthony Mann. There’s a real expansiveness and mythological weight to the landscape here as the story descends from snowy mountains, through settled valleys and the open plains, and ending up in the desert. The story perspective is that of the pursued (rather as if The Searchers was told from the point of view of Scar), played by a marvellously shaggy-bearded Pierce Brosnan, as far away from 007 as possible, with the result that the obsessiveness of Liam Neeson’s vengeful pursuer maybe becomes too much of a given right from the start — and especially as Brosnan’s moral responsibility for the original atrocity is later softened in the inevitable flashback.

The film turns weirdly unrealistic towards the end, with Wes Studi’s wise Indian and Anjelica Huston’s snakeoil hawker turning up in the middle of the desert to dispense wisdom, but by this stage it’s clear that Von Ancken has transformed the film into an allegory of post-Civil War national reconciliation. And if you accept this change, the image of the two men wandering off away from one another and literally fading into the desert is a very satisfying one.

by Ian Johnston | Source: 35mm print
29 Apr 2007 1:01 PM | Submit Comment