Minor Spoilers
"The Great Silence" is probably the biggest departure the western genre has ever made from the black hats / white hats stereotype. The titular "Silence" and Klaus Kinski's slimy antagonist can only be separated by their contrasting personalities; otherwise, they are both murderers on the wrong side of the law, and often sympathy is created for the both of them; Kinski after all is just a bounty hunter, not some raging psychopath, this is arguably the same character who would seem OK if played by Eli Wallach. Silence on the other hand, while he may not kill everyone he meets, does shoot peoples' thumbs off which isn't a particularly nice thing to do. Both Silence and one of the "bandits" share a mutual goal of revenge; and in Silence's case he is performing such an act not for self satisfaction, but for money, which doesn't make him too different from Kinski's Loco. And finally the outlaws in the hills aren't outlaws at all; rather a sect of Mormons who have been thrown out of their homes by an unforgiving lawman.
Now the lines between good and bad are indefinitely blurred, it is as if the wild west can't sink any lower. The unconventional snowy setting, and the inability of the sheriff to keep the town in order signal the end of the west. There are no heroes anymore, there is no justice and "winners" rarely deserve their success. And this message couldn't hit home any harder than it does here. The superb direction and the picturesque photography are mere side notes.
I don't like the speak with an ego; but I do think I've seen a fair share of films and seen a variety of subjects and issues dealt with varying degrees of skill. This in mind, I have to say that "The Great Silence" has the most brutal, shocking conclusion I have ever seen. The bleak, pessimistic nature of the film couldn't have been summed up more effectively.. In the past I've looked towards the likes of Unforgiven, Once Upon a Time in the West and The Wild Bunch for a definitive conclusion to the western genre. Now I can say, without decrying the quality of these films, that "The Great Silence" is the one and only film that can act as a capper to the entire genre. The west has never been more dead.
"The Great Silence" is probably the biggest departure the western genre has ever made from the black hats / white hats stereotype. The titular "Silence" and Klaus Kinski's slimy antagonist can only be separated by their contrasting personalities; otherwise, they are both murderers on the wrong side of the law, and often sympathy is created for the both of them; Kinski after all is just a bounty hunter, not some raging psychopath, this is arguably the same character who would seem OK if played by Eli Wallach. Silence on the other hand, while he may not kill everyone he meets, does shoot peoples' thumbs off which isn't a particularly nice thing to do. Both Silence and one of the "bandits" share a mutual goal of revenge; and in Silence's case he is performing such an act not for self satisfaction, but for money, which doesn't make him too different from Kinski's Loco. And finally the outlaws in the hills aren't outlaws at all; rather a sect of Mormons who have been thrown out of their homes by an unforgiving lawman.
Now the lines between good and bad are indefinitely blurred, it is as if the wild west can't sink any lower. The unconventional snowy setting, and the inability of the sheriff to keep the town in order signal the end of the west. There are no heroes anymore, there is no justice and "winners" rarely deserve their success. And this message couldn't hit home any harder than it does here. The superb direction and the picturesque photography are mere side notes.
I don't like the speak with an ego; but I do think I've seen a fair share of films and seen a variety of subjects and issues dealt with varying degrees of skill. This in mind, I have to say that "The Great Silence" has the most brutal, shocking conclusion I have ever seen. The bleak, pessimistic nature of the film couldn't have been summed up more effectively.. In the past I've looked towards the likes of Unforgiven, Once Upon a Time in the West and The Wild Bunch for a definitive conclusion to the western genre. Now I can say, without decrying the quality of these films, that "The Great Silence" is the one and only film that can act as a capper to the entire genre. The west has never been more dead.
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