You can count on director Scott Cooper to take on seriously gritty stories. His latest film ‘Hostiles’ is no exception and tackles the Western genre with a revisionist slant. The film opens with a quote by D.H. Lawrence: “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, and a killer. It has never yet melted.” Forget the sugarcoated history books from high school. Cooper wants the audience to feel uncomfortable with how the West was actually won. It was won through slaughtering and scalping untold numbers of natives and cavalry officers. It was a bloody and violent period in American history. Although the plot meanders at times, the haunting performances and stunning widescreen cinematography make ‘Hostiles’ a well-made film.
Captain Joe Blocker (Christian Bale) is an American Cavalry officer ordered to escort a dying Cheyenne chief and his family back to his tribal lands in Montana. Blocker has spent his career fighting against Native Americans and adamantly hates them. He reluctantly turns down this assignment until he is threatened by a court-martial and losing his pension. Chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) has served seven years as a prisoner in the New Mexico fort. Now that the resistance from Native Americans is almost over in 1892, Washington has granted the Chief clemency to return to Montana to die. Bale is amazing at conveying his bitterness and anger through a handlebar moustache. His eyes tell us that he has seen unfathomable atrocities take place among his fellow soldiers.
Once he hits the trail, Blocker’s assignment is complicated when his party approaches a burned down ranch. They discover a surviving wife, Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike) and her massacred family. It’s the aftermath of a violent scene where Commanches kill her family to steal their horses. The mood is somber as Rosalee’s family is buried and the marauding Comanches are still on the warpath. Soon Blocker realizes that if he has any chance of winning that he will have to fight as one to survive with his former adversary Chief Yellow Hawk. They have to put their hatred aside and learn to trust each other. This is where the arc of Bale’s character gradually changes. He delivers an intense performance. This is before the shock of PTSD was recognized as a legitimate side effect of war. As his hatred fades away, he must confront his violent past.
The journey for the Army Captain, the widowed survivor and the War Chief is an intense one. They must band together as one in order to survive the Commanche bandits on their tail. The fight scenes are very violent. When a victim is sacrificed, they let out an eerie scream. It’s as if Cooper is sacrificing their sins to the American myth of the West. Cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi presents magnificent landscapes reminiscent of such classic Westerns as John Ford’s ‘The Searchers’ and Clint Eastwood’s ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales.’ The widescreen imagery adds a sense of vast untamed spaces that harken back to the classic Western. The relationship between Blocker and Chief Yellow Hawk evolves over time. Although they have a history of fighting against each other, he regains a certain amount of his humanity back in order to allow the Indians to have theirs. All of these people are damaged and traumatized but it is the smoldering performances that make their painful journeys so palpable.
‘Hostiles’ is a bit flawed around the edges but it is a solid Western that proves the genre is not dead. Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike deliver stellar performances and have excellent chemistry together. The beautifully shot widescreen landscapes make it feel like a traditional Western with a timely message about the mistreatment of Native Americans. Saddle up for ‘Hostiles.’ It’s worth the ride.
