Reviews

I don't understand why so many people seem to dislike this film. It has an awful lot going for it, a superb cast, gripping story line , much accuracy, excellent direction and cinematography,superb scenery, not to mention the darker side of Native American beliefs. *****POSSIBLE SPOILER.... Tommy Lee Jones was superb as Cate Blanchets estranged father, and the fact that it was hinted that Lilli, the 'missing' daughter was concieved in less than ideal circumstances was, I think pivotal to the animosity Blanchets character felt toward her father, the fact that he was not there to protect her when she needed him. The fact that Jones was not expecting to be forgiven, but had in fact turned up when he did as the result of being bitten by a rattlesnake and as part of his 'cure', suggested by a medicine man, was that he should not eat rabbit for a year and go look after his family, shows that he had turned up for purely selfish reasons, much the same motivation as to why he left in the first place. **********The complex and compelling characters are acted superbly by a first class cast, without exception, and the deep and more sinister back ground of the brujo man gives this an element not often seen in a film of this genre. I love Westerns, though this film is much more, it is a superb study of human interaction, in a difficult and brutal era in the history of the American people. Ron Howard is to be congratulated for giving the depth to these characters that so many classic westerns dont.