** HERE BE SPOILERS **
Young Mike (O'Conor) comes into town in a western outback town to spend the night with a prostitute Madeleine (Giocante) he briefly made contact earlier. However, the night is interrupted by Wally (Madsen) and the events spin out of control, leaving the young girl dead and Mike severely injured. He survives due to treatment of some Indians that find him passed out in the wilderness. Later, an older Mike (Cassel) is the marshal of a town on the border of Indian country. There is a myth that some sacred mountains deep into the desert in the Indian country is full of gold and treasure, and there are growing tensions between Indians and people who want the treasure. One of those is Sullivan (G. Lewis) and he has hired some dubious men to find a way to the mountains. Sullivan's daughter Maria (J. Lewis (real daughter to G.)) has become very interested in Mike and when Wally turns up in town, once again events spin out of control.
This is no western in the usual sense, since this movie has a good emphasis on the spirit world. In fact most of the "fighting" takes place in the spirit world making the movie a most odd experience. This also makes Indian shaman Runi, played by Morrison, a central part in a interesting way. The effects and cinematic tricks used in the movie are well thought through and very well used, as well as very beautiful. Especially effects in scenes of reminiscence were very beautiful and striking. Unfortunately a very large part of the dialog is held in a language unknown to me (I guess some Indian language, as it wasn't any form of English, Spanish or German that I recognize, and didn't sound like French either). This meant that I felt like I missed out on a large part of the story. I agree that an Indian shaman should use his own language, to translate into another would be false, but some subtitles would have been nice. Since I missed out on such a large part of the dialog, the story became confusing and large parts were slow and boring, since I couldn't really understand what was happening. I could guess by the actors' gestures and the beautiful effects what was really taking place, but I could never shake the feeling that I missed very much. I also would have wished that good actors and actresses like Borgnine, Karyo and Hiltz would have been given more room and time.
So, a very interesting movie with a very strong visual part, but since the story was clouded in mists the grade cannot be very high, unfortunately.
4/10
Young Mike (O'Conor) comes into town in a western outback town to spend the night with a prostitute Madeleine (Giocante) he briefly made contact earlier. However, the night is interrupted by Wally (Madsen) and the events spin out of control, leaving the young girl dead and Mike severely injured. He survives due to treatment of some Indians that find him passed out in the wilderness. Later, an older Mike (Cassel) is the marshal of a town on the border of Indian country. There is a myth that some sacred mountains deep into the desert in the Indian country is full of gold and treasure, and there are growing tensions between Indians and people who want the treasure. One of those is Sullivan (G. Lewis) and he has hired some dubious men to find a way to the mountains. Sullivan's daughter Maria (J. Lewis (real daughter to G.)) has become very interested in Mike and when Wally turns up in town, once again events spin out of control.
This is no western in the usual sense, since this movie has a good emphasis on the spirit world. In fact most of the "fighting" takes place in the spirit world making the movie a most odd experience. This also makes Indian shaman Runi, played by Morrison, a central part in a interesting way. The effects and cinematic tricks used in the movie are well thought through and very well used, as well as very beautiful. Especially effects in scenes of reminiscence were very beautiful and striking. Unfortunately a very large part of the dialog is held in a language unknown to me (I guess some Indian language, as it wasn't any form of English, Spanish or German that I recognize, and didn't sound like French either). This meant that I felt like I missed out on a large part of the story. I agree that an Indian shaman should use his own language, to translate into another would be false, but some subtitles would have been nice. Since I missed out on such a large part of the dialog, the story became confusing and large parts were slow and boring, since I couldn't really understand what was happening. I could guess by the actors' gestures and the beautiful effects what was really taking place, but I could never shake the feeling that I missed very much. I also would have wished that good actors and actresses like Borgnine, Karyo and Hiltz would have been given more room and time.
So, a very interesting movie with a very strong visual part, but since the story was clouded in mists the grade cannot be very high, unfortunately.
4/10