Hostiles

Hostiles

Starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Rory Cochrane

Directed by Scott Cooper

The Story:
In 1892, a Comanche war party attacks the home of Rosalie Quaid and her family, killing her husband and three young children while she escapes.  Meanwhile, Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) is informed that he must take captured Cheyenne war chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) to Montana due to his ailing health, but Blocker is adamantly against it due to his own racial prejudices and also because he lost many friends fighting the dying war chief, but he agrees after threat of court marshal.

Taking several men with him, along with Yellow Hawk's family, Blocker begins his journey from New Mexico to Montana, and finds Rosalie along the way.  He takes her in after helping bury her family, when the Comanche attack them again.  Yellow Hawk and his son prove helpful, and Blocker begins to trust them more, and as their perilous journey continues, he begins to understand Yellow Hawk and put aside his racial prejudices for the safety of the company.

The Synopsis:
Scott Cooper is well-known for directing films where learning an important life lesson comes at a deadly cost.  From "Black Mass" to "Crazy Heart" to his other Christian Bale-leading film "Out of the Furnace," Cooper's characters encounter hardships and trials and learns through the hardships they face.  "Hostiles" is no different, as he blends a long-lost novel from a famous author with his own inclusions of racial prejudice and acceptance that's not coincidental to today's society.

The film was based off a manuscript found by the relatives of Donald E. Stewart, who passed away in 1999, and whose other work include "The Hunt for Red October," "Clear and Present Danger," and "Patriot Games."  Cooper wanted to turn the manuscript into a film, and added his own themes of racial divide that was going on in America at the time - and thereby pointing out the racial divide that's still going on today.  Then, it was the divide between white Americans and Native Americans, whose land were stolen by the white people, and the years of bitter wars that took place because of it.  It's blatantly obvious that Cooper wanted to infuse this theme with the modern day tensions facing Americans with how his characters interact with each other and the eventual important life lesson learned through the pains of hardships.

The film is beautifully shot in the vast wildernesses of the American west, with visually sweeping camera motions showcasing our heroes on horseback through the terrain that really teleports you to that olden time, along with the fantastic, intricate costume designs.  It's a highly stark contrast between that peaceful, serene setting with the unrelenting violence that occurs on it.

Oscar winner Christian Bale plays Captain Blocker as a war-hardened man, who withholds his emotions as long as he can and doesn't show weakness (with certain exceptions when you see him break down, but even those moments you can see he's clearly struggling with it).  He's been through the trenches and lost many faithful friends, and his hatred for the Native Americans - especially Yellow Hawk - stem from those encounters.  In a way, you can emphasize with him, but we also know that this kind of prejudice won't keep a hold of Blocker forever, and that, through his delicate journey, he will see things in a different light.  There's no twist there, it's plain as black and white, but Bale does this transformation slowly, intricately, through the bloodstained violence that happens all around him.

Rosamund Pike steals the show as Rosalie Quaid, a woman who is on the brink of insanity after Comanche Indians murder her family.  This occurs in the first scene, and sets the stage for an extremely bloody film that follows, and it's a moment in the film where you can't take your eyes off the screen due to its sheer terror and unrelenting evil.  When Blocker and his company finds her, she's sitting in her charred home, cradling her dead child, telling the soldiers to be quiet because her children are "sleeping."  Her most powerful scene occurs when she tries to bury her children, digging through the rough dirt with just her nails, and the screams she produces are soul crushing.  She plays the role of a mother and wife who's lost everything so perfectly you feel like you're seeing someone who actually went through that type of unimaginable horror.  As the film progresses, she finds an inner strength in her faith and in Blocker, becoming as strong as he is while also learning that not all Native Americans are bad.

Wes Studi is a profound Native American actor who's appeared in some of the best films in decades, including "Dances With Wolves" and "The Last of the Mohicans," and here he plays Yellow Hawk, the elderly war chief who's dying of cancer.  While his part is more subdued than his other films, his presence is still a powerful force on screen as he tries to prove to Blocker that he's not wholly evil, and the importance of working together for a common purpose.

Yet, while the film boasts a strong cast and beautiful visuals, the script itself has a bit to be desired.  Even though the film is over two hours long, it seemed like it dragged on in parts, and there doesn't seem to be any deep character developments (other than Pike's character).  Even Blocker - who turns from racist to supporter - changes in a way that doesn't seem on the outside like he's changed at all.  Later in the film, they are also assigned with bringing a war criminal to hang, who used to fight with Blocker.  Even the scenes between these two men (a very capable Ben Foster) seem hollow and devoid of emotion.  Ultimately, you know where the film is heading, and even though it takes some winding roads to get there, there's no big surprise in the outcome.

What the film does deliver is bloody violence, showing the vast lawless world the settlers lived in during the late 1800s.  The company encounters surprise attacks from Comanche warriors, ruthless fur traders, and unrelenting land owners that greatly deplete their population, resulting in several deaths of characters you appreciate and like, even if you don't know their names.  It's an interesting, harsh look at the true wild wild west, and that's the main driving point of a film like this: life lessons learned through death.

The Summary:
Boasting a strong cast, great visuals and gritty violence, "Hostiles" gives us an unflinching look into the dangerous life of late 1800s living while also paralleling concepts of racial divide that still affects our country today.

The Score: A-