The beautiful landscape shots and the calm narrative pace in Hostiles are repeatedly interrupted by brutal excesses of violence. The emotional western also develops its power in home cinema with the best version
Movies about the Wild West have already produced some charismatic gunslingers and sensitive chieftains. In Hostiles, Scott Cooper dispenses with romanticized portrayals and heroic figures. He shows complex characters who are trapped in their world of violence and hatred and yet have to stick together. With your community rating, you can vote the western into 9th place among the best westerns of the last decade.
Released in 2017, the film is available on Blu-ray and DVD, but the best version available is the 2-disc edition in 4K and Blu-ray . Alternatively, Amazon Prime offers the western for purchase and rental.
This is what the emotional western Enemies – Hostiles is about
The hardened Captain Blocker (Christian Bale) has already killed many people in his life and makes no secret of his hatred towards the Native Americans. Now he, of all people, is supposed to escort a dying war chief (Wes Studi) and his family safely back to their tribal territory.
On the long journey from New Mexico to Montana, they meet a widow (Rosamund Pike) whose family was murdered by the Comanches and who joins the troop. The disparate troupe is forced to move closer together, because not only is nature unyielding, they also have to trek through the hunting grounds of a hostile tribe.
(Enemies Hostiles)
Enemies – Hostiles an emotional western without heroes
Hostiles dispenses with the depiction of good and evil and an idealized depiction of the Wild West. In his film review on epd film, Patrick Seyboth points out positively that the Native Americans are not romanticized, as the now small tribe of Comanches does not stop at the killing of women and children.
However, Hostiles also clearly shows that the foundations of the violence were laid by racist whites and their ruthless appropriation. Ultimately, all the characters are the losers. “Precisely because the production is characterized by elegiac calm for long stretches, the outbreaks of violence seem all the more brutal and senseless.”
FILMSTARTS also gave the western a very positive review with the rating “excellent”. There it says:
Scott Cooper’s brilliantly atmospheric western drama Enemies – Hostiles develops an emotional elemental force with increasing duration that is impossible to escape – as is Christian Bale’s impressive slow-burner performance
Bale, Studi and Pike are not the only ones to convince with their portrayal of characters who are broken by violence, but at the same time trapped in their role as perpetrators and in hatred. Top-class actors such as Timothée Chalamet, Jesse Plemons and Q’Orianka Kilcher also lend depth to their characters in the supporting roles.
