Spanish filmmaker Mateo Gil has been constantly collaborating with Alejandro Amenábar since his first film; Tesis (1996), the latter subsequently putting the former in the shade. Thus this is only Gil's second feature film. I haven't seen his first work, and apart from Amenábar's films and little projects of his own, he also spent his time trying to adapt the novel Pedro Páramo, which proved to be unmanageable. And that brings us to Blackthorn, a film that must have been on Gil's mind for quite some time, whether directly or indirectly. In any case, it is a great film, so it makes me hope it's not too late for Mateo Gil to develop a fruitful career as a full-length film director.
On the surface, Blackthorn doesn't tell anything new; it brings back the crepuscular atmosphere of the likes of Sam Peckinpah's westerns, with an iconic but worn-down figure as the main character. The man is getting old and wants to go back home; he's saved enough money for that, but he loses it when he runs into an adventurous and foolish Spaniard. So the two of them must now work together to get the money so that the old man can leave. The most original aspect of the film, again only at first sight, comes from the setting; this western takes place in the barren landscapes of Bolivia, the country where supposedly Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid got killed (see the last shot of George Roy Hill's 1969 movie). The film starts off from there, imagining that in fact Butch Cassidy never died.
So Sam Shepard plays a 50 or 60 something Butch Cassidy, now going by the name of Blackthorn. Shepard brings the right amount of wisdom, melancholia and roughness to the character. His performance is somewhat reminiscent, without going very far back in this comparison, of Jeff Bridges' in True Grit. They also have in common that they are both worthy of award recognition. Sam Shepard should pick up at least a handful of nominations for his touching, restrained yet aggressive turn, but considering the kind of film we're talking about, it probably won't happen. Shame. As for the rest of the cast, everybody's all right. Eduardo Noriega does an OK job at keeping up with Shepard's performance, and the other relatively fleshed-out character; Mackinley, is played by Stephen Rea with skill, despite the character in question being quite underused.
That brings me to the first and main flaw of the film; the way the flashbacks are structured is questionable, at least for the first few of them. Unless I'm wrong, there are six flashbacks throughout the movie, showing us the younger years of Butch Cassidy and his teaming up with the Sundance Kid and their lady friend Etta Place. The flashbacks have potential, and it's hard for me to say anything against flashbacks being used in film narrative (in my eyes they usually improve a film a lot), but said potential is not exploited that well, thus achieving sometimes confusing transitions between the present and the flashbacks (which is reinforced by the fact that these are not clearly differentiated, tonally speaking, from the present scenes) and lacking the lyricism (except for the last ones) they could've had. Regarding Mackinley, he only shows up in one of these flashbacks. So when we see him in the present, supposedly as a character with great relevance in the film and in Butch Cassidy's life, it doesn't work very well because we've only seen him for about a minute before that.
Blackthorn has a few other flaws, mostly in the form of missed opportunities, not to mention a somewhat unsatisfactory ending, but its qualities easily outshine them. Apart from Sam Shepard's terrific personification, the cinematography is a strong highlight (which isn't that surprising given the genre and setting), as well as the score, making a risky move by alternating between some epic music and country-like songs. Some of the dialogue is also memorable, and as far as the progression of the story goes, every plot detail is worked out competently. But what I liked most about the film was the nostalgia surrounding it, those letters Blackthorn writes to his kid, the mountains and the deserts where he quietly rides his horse, his memories, and his determination to go back home. In his words (approximately), "there are only two significant moments in a man's life; when he leaves home, and when he finally comes back."
****
On the surface, Blackthorn doesn't tell anything new; it brings back the crepuscular atmosphere of the likes of Sam Peckinpah's westerns, with an iconic but worn-down figure as the main character. The man is getting old and wants to go back home; he's saved enough money for that, but he loses it when he runs into an adventurous and foolish Spaniard. So the two of them must now work together to get the money so that the old man can leave. The most original aspect of the film, again only at first sight, comes from the setting; this western takes place in the barren landscapes of Bolivia, the country where supposedly Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid got killed (see the last shot of George Roy Hill's 1969 movie). The film starts off from there, imagining that in fact Butch Cassidy never died.
So Sam Shepard plays a 50 or 60 something Butch Cassidy, now going by the name of Blackthorn. Shepard brings the right amount of wisdom, melancholia and roughness to the character. His performance is somewhat reminiscent, without going very far back in this comparison, of Jeff Bridges' in True Grit. They also have in common that they are both worthy of award recognition. Sam Shepard should pick up at least a handful of nominations for his touching, restrained yet aggressive turn, but considering the kind of film we're talking about, it probably won't happen. Shame. As for the rest of the cast, everybody's all right. Eduardo Noriega does an OK job at keeping up with Shepard's performance, and the other relatively fleshed-out character; Mackinley, is played by Stephen Rea with skill, despite the character in question being quite underused.
That brings me to the first and main flaw of the film; the way the flashbacks are structured is questionable, at least for the first few of them. Unless I'm wrong, there are six flashbacks throughout the movie, showing us the younger years of Butch Cassidy and his teaming up with the Sundance Kid and their lady friend Etta Place. The flashbacks have potential, and it's hard for me to say anything against flashbacks being used in film narrative (in my eyes they usually improve a film a lot), but said potential is not exploited that well, thus achieving sometimes confusing transitions between the present and the flashbacks (which is reinforced by the fact that these are not clearly differentiated, tonally speaking, from the present scenes) and lacking the lyricism (except for the last ones) they could've had. Regarding Mackinley, he only shows up in one of these flashbacks. So when we see him in the present, supposedly as a character with great relevance in the film and in Butch Cassidy's life, it doesn't work very well because we've only seen him for about a minute before that.
Blackthorn has a few other flaws, mostly in the form of missed opportunities, not to mention a somewhat unsatisfactory ending, but its qualities easily outshine them. Apart from Sam Shepard's terrific personification, the cinematography is a strong highlight (which isn't that surprising given the genre and setting), as well as the score, making a risky move by alternating between some epic music and country-like songs. Some of the dialogue is also memorable, and as far as the progression of the story goes, every plot detail is worked out competently. But what I liked most about the film was the nostalgia surrounding it, those letters Blackthorn writes to his kid, the mountains and the deserts where he quietly rides his horse, his memories, and his determination to go back home. In his words (approximately), "there are only two significant moments in a man's life; when he leaves home, and when he finally comes back."
****