Although a single swallow, as Aristotle
reminds us, doesn’t make a summer, some viewers may be forgiven for hoping that
three Westerns can constitute a trend. The release of Open Range, The Last Samurai (despite its setting in Japan, very much an example of the form), and now, The Missing within the span of a few
months, indicates that Hollywood retains at least a modicum of belief in the
greatest American genre.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Although
it no longer enjoys its former position as a staple of the industry and a
necessary vehicle for virtually every male actor, the Western continues to
express some of the basic values of the nation. It has characteristic violence,
sets its action in a wilderness both hostile and beautiful, and identifies the
characters who will always dominate the American imagination.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
latest example of the form suggests, within its familiar patterns, some of its
rich potential for development in unusual directions. Instead of the cowboy or
gunslinger, the protagonist of The
Missing is a woman, Maggie Gilkerson (Cate Blanchett), the single mother of
two daughters, who runs a ranch and works as a sort of untutored physician,
what the other characters call a healer. Although its circumstances lead her
into actions as violent as those of any other Western, the story ultimately
revolves around healing of all kinds, which makes her profession essential to
its meaning.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Abruptly
interrupting her daily life, her father, Jones (Tommy Lee Jones), who had
abandoned his family many years ago, suddenly appears. Something of an amateur
anthropologist, as the movie hints, he spent twenty years living with the
Apaches and adopting many of their ways. Although she bears an understandable
grudge against him, when a band of renegade Native Americans and white
criminals kidnap Maggie’s older daughter Lily (Evan Rachel Wood), she accepts
Jones’s offer to help track them and somehow rescue Lily. When she and her
younger daughter Dot (Jenna Boyd) join Jones on the long and difficult pursuit
of the gang, the picture employs one of those revenge quests that animate so
many Westerns, notably The Searchers,
a journey that ends in a resolution more meaningful than sheer butchery and
bloodshed.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย As
father, daughter, and granddaughter trail the renegade band, they travel toward
some kind of understanding. The family reconfigures itself on the arduous trek,
coming to know one another, and Maggie finally discovers within herself the
capacity to forgive.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Their
continuing struggle against both the elements and their enemies forces them to
work together in some unusual ways, even involving an entirely credible element
of the supernatural. Maggie heals the wounded son of her father’s Native
American friend, but sickens from the malevolent magic of the shaman who leads
the renegades. When her father’s own magic saves her, she begins to comprehend
and accept the differences between them, even to forgive him for the pain he
caused her.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
wicked wizard, Chidin (Eric Schweig), a character of unalloyed evil, represents
something unusual in the Western, especially in its rare contemporary
manifestations: a truly hateful Indian, a throwback to the some of the
implicitly racist themes of the form’s past. The picture, however, also
provides some noble Indians, several degenerate white thugs, and a troop of
cavalry who loot a murdered rancher’s house, as if they were the “savages” they
regard as their enemy, demonstrating a kind of balance to Chidin and his gang.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Chidin’s
supernatural powers, moreover, and his special delight in cruelty — his men
roast one man over a fire, he kills another with claws dipped in rattlesnake
venom, and blinds a third with a powder he blows into his eyes — set him
apart from his companions, transforming him into a properly mythic figure, an
appropriate antagonist for so heroic a quest.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Along
with its supernatural elements, The
Missing paradoxically locates its people within a gritty, authentic time
and place, the New Mexico of 1885. The picture opens, for example, with Cate
Blanchett, who looks simultaneously both plain and pretty, in the privy —
what other female star would consent to such a shot? — before she must pull
an old woman’s last, blackened tooth.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
opening sequence immediately demonstrates that no matter how romantic or
adventurous its history, the Western occupies the difficult and often unlovely
territory of a harsh reality. Blanchett’s anger and passion work well opposite
the sad impassivity of Tommy Lee Jones’s rugged countenance, as pitted and
rocky as the landscape itself. Both fully inhabit their roles.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The
fine performances intensify the movie’s unusual amalgamation of seemingly
disparate elements: the myth and magic combined with the ordinary and factual,
the shocking violence and inordinate cruelty mixed with love and redemption. The Missing is both a traditional and an
unorthodox Western, perhaps just the best sort of Western for this time and
place and maybe even the forerunner of others to come.
The Missing, starring
Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Eric Schweig, Evan Rachel Wood, Jenna Boyd,
Steve Reeves, Ray McKinnon, Val Kilmer, Aaron Eckhart, Simon Baker, Jay Tavare,
Sergio Calderon, Clint Howard, Elisabeth Ross; based on the novel The Last Ride by Thomas Eidson;
screenplay by Ken Kaufman; directed by Ron Howard. Cinemark Tinseltown, Hoyts
Greece Ridge, Loews Webster, Pittsford Plaza Cinema, Regal Culver Ridge, Regal
Eastview, Regal Henrietta.
You can hear George and his movie
reviews on WXXI-FM 91.5 Fridays at 7:20 a.m., rerun on Saturdays at 8:50 a.m.
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2003.
