Comments on: Why Hostiles Might Be The Best Western Ever

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 23:43:13 +0000

In reply to Damien Kamler. my apologies - fixed it. thx!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 15:44:27 +0000

There’s no “the” but it’s not the end of the world because we all know what movie he’s referring to.

By: Damien Kamler

Damien Kamler — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 04:04:43 +0000

Just… how can you write all this and yet get the name of the movie wrong…

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 00:07:10 +0000

In reply to Stepha.

Hey there Stepha,
it’s been a while since I’ve watched, and I’ve literally forgotten every word I wrote above, but… from my recollection of what went down, I saw the movie, not as a historically accurate portrayal of the west, and the racial bigotry that happened there, but more as a repudiation of our idea of what a good western movie even was. Or is. And for all the reasons you stated above. The white characters were fleshed out and detailed, and wrong… broken, flawed.

I recently adopted two boys from Haiti, which has been fairly eye opening. But, in 2019, I get a pass for doing that. I am not subjected to the spite and the hate that would have come even 20 years ago for doing something like that. Let alone 120 years ago. So I can’t say I understand. But personally, I felt like the movie was totally punching a hole in those stereotypes and that logic. They built these white characters up as the good guys, in the white hats, and then tore them down. At least, that is what I saw, personally. I haven’t seen it in a while, so who knows at this point.

By: Stepha

Stepha — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 13:46:14 +0000

I was troubled by this movie a bit. You really get to know the white characters quite well, their histories, what made them the way they are, etc. However, the character development on the minorities was very lacking.
Just being friends with/making amends with a black or native person doesn’t tell a story with their insight or allow one to attach to them as much as I’d like. I’m half black half Arapaho so I was literally wanting more to grasp onto. Adam Beach, an accomplished First Nation actor hardly said two words. Moreover, they were all killed at once in the end in a situation that could have been avoided. That left only the little boy, Narcos (spelling?) who was then taken in by Rosalee. Which, that situation was very reminiscent of Native children chartered off to white boarding schools up until the mid 20th century where we virtually almost had our culture drained out.
Perhaps if I had a different history I would say that this movie made an effort to be thought provoking and inclusive (which it was moreso than a lot). But, it’s also 2019 (2018 when it came out, I think). So, having your protagonist, who we are supposed to be by some means sympathetic with, be one of the officers who orchastrated Wounded Knee and someone who comes away alive, with a pension, and a family to live a fine life (I’m assuming) in Chicago is a bit troubling. And having a black friend (who is under him and by no means makes him a friend of the blacks or explains anything. — Many slave owners had slaves that they thought were good and “befriended”. Obviously Jim (?) was a free man here but we don’t know anything of his journey, so we can’t say he had a just relationship with Joe). But having a black man serving under him who he was attached to and saying sorry to Chief Yellow Hawk does not quite do enough for me.
In America, minorities are now a majority so it would be nice to make films that are actually more inclusive instead of just brushing the surface enough to get by. Stop making minorities secondary characters. Even in period pieces one could make a similar film about Sitting Bull with a complex main character not being someone who helped with the almost genocide of native people but still had blood on his hands yet was considered a hero to sympathize with. You could make this exact same film plot but delve more deeply into the non white characters. There are a ton of things one could do that might make this film more intriguing, realistic, less offensive, and inclusive for what is now a huge sector of this countries consumer base and culture.

By: Skippy

Skippy — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 08:15:10 +0000

The compassion and empathy Joe Blocker showed to the woman who lost her family was amazing. A transitional time in history, this version of historical fiction captured the violence of the era, and the goodness of many. Finally this timeline of “The West”, was very short lived- a much shorter span of time than most people think.

By: Skippy

Skippy — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 08:14:10 +0000

By: kons

kons — Fri, 03 Aug 2018 15:15:05 +0000

just seen the film. just say that it has very subtle ideas which the film is trying to bring across that any man can be a hostile and that some hostiles can be your friend. Great film for me but the pace was a little too slow. Like the ending.

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Mon, 14 May 2018 23:29:34 +0000

In reply to Shelby.

Hahaha…
I don’t know if you read my post about “I Am Not Your Negro”, towards the bottom I waxed eloquent about what I was learning while there in Haiti visiting the two boys we are attempting to adopt. Anyway, Haiti being the only land that overthrew their foreign rule, learning about the things that Columbus did to the native people (which, are extinct now as a result) is just mind blowing. And yes, I hope they have been outed as assholes. Most people I know don’t know about the horrors that they inflicted. But maybe that is changing?

And yeah, the ending was good. I didn’t think it was going to flip. I thought he was all… peace out! hahaha. It was a complicated movie with lots of complicated motivators happening from each character’s direction…
Taylor