Unforgiven Analysis

Unforgiven (1992)

Starring, Directed and Produced by: Clint Eastwood
Written by: David Webb Peoples
Won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director.
Streaming on Netflix.

It's a revisionist Western - where the traditional format of the Western is subverted, in terms of who the protagonist is, their moral choices and consequences. A cowboy disfigured a prostitute by slashing her, after she laughs at his small penis. Outraged at this, the group of prostitutes announce a reward for the cowboy's death. Enter the hero, who has quit killing since a long time - to take up this job one last time so that he can take care of his kids. The premise is extremely visual - we see the violence - and then we see the old man, who has kids and is living in poverty. It feels like we could watch the film on mute and yet appreciate it. The general characteristics of a western, the wide landscapes, themes of revenge, bounty hunting, masculinity, all are fun to watch. Clint Eastwood plays the macho bad guy, and he is very good at it. I watched this film after watching Gran Torino - which now I feel is a nice gradual progression from playing good guys to bad guys over the span of his career. The difference in morality amongst the characters is also an interesting way of exploring the complexity of the world.

I find Westerns as a genre to be very fun. It's interesting how Quentin Tarantino and Coen Brothers have adapted the genre with their own personal voices and created entirely new genres out of them. I'd say the last 4 Tarantino films are a different genre altogether. What Coen Brothers did with No Country for Old Men, they created a modern Western genre - which I think was a reference for films like Hell or High Water. Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a musical Western, but it also makes fun of the genre at times. It goes without saying that Clint Eastwood's contribution to the Westerns is incontestable, but this film winning the Best Picture - I'm not quite sure. Because I felt that this is a great Western film, but it's not a great film - it's a good film.