confessions of purient film-watcher ~

[lookingland]

i've been on this weird kick of watching viet nam protest movies (the sort of fringe ones that indirectly address the state of the union in that era). i came, by this path, to a film by ralph nelson called Soldier Blue, which, oddly, i'd never heard of, and which, apparently, was so controversial, it originally received an X rating for its depiction of genocide when it was released in 1970, and had to be edited.

well of course, i had to see it, to see what all the fuss was. and all i can say is: be careful what you ask for, you may get it.

i honestly thought: how bad can it be in 1970? and sure enough the majority of the film is a somewhat dated, though charming, almost-comedic love story between candice bergen as a woman liberated from a Cheyenne village after years of being a captive, and peter strauss, the young sole survivor of an attack on his cavalry detail. there's some gore and some pretty graphic shooting ~ made less effective by the technicolor blood, but hey, it's 1970, so you just sorta go with it.



from the opening assault on the cavalry: a stunned
private honus gant, surveys the carnage. what he sees here
is nothing compared to what he will witness later.
and then comes the big finale in which the cavalry descends on a peaceful Cheyenne encampment (this is basically the Sand Creek Massacre revisited ~ my brother and i once painted a mural that read: "Chivington doth burn", which i think i posted here before once). anyway, nelson doesn't pull any punches on this one. though the film is somewhat propaganda, its depiction of rape, mutilation, and other atrocities enacted on women and children is taken from eye witness accounts. effectively, the movie turns from a silly little adventure into the fullblown horror of native american genocide.

while the performances are wonderful and i think it's a fine film ~ even an important film ~ and even though it sports a fabulous opening song by Buffy Saint-Marie (for any fans out there) i don't necessarily recommend it unless you absolutely feel, like for whatever reason i did, that you need to see what all the fuss is about.

: o p

p.s. i don't think there's any point in watching an edited version of this movie, so i wouldn't bother with any american releases (i don't think the current dvd version is actually "complete" ~ if i understand correctly, they still edit some of the violence at the end). if you absolutely want to know where to get the uncut version for free, e-mail me and i will send you the link.

Comments

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

yeah rivero plays a cheyenne chief named spotted wolf.

The Painted Bird did me in too ~ it get all queasy just thinking about it.

so yeah, among the things i'd like to take back, there's at least one scene in this one i didn't need to see.

: o p