I realise you're being hyperbolic for effect, but I hope we're not selling John Ford short here...
He didn't shoot John Wayne's character simply as a crazy racist, rather the character was a soldier who was not able to adjust to civilisation, probably had PTSD, probably had deep hatred of people who had killed his comrades and kin, etc... i.e. he wasn't some out-of-his-mind hater, rather he was a scarred man (ironically he is mirrored and contrasted by the Scar character, this shows that Ford was cognisant of the portrayal and not just echoing bigotry of a bygone time period). Yes, the character was mad with bloodlust and was bigoted and ruthless, but the character was in-context and was contrasted with not only the various native americans, but also with his fellow settlers as a man out of place and who no longer fits into the new civilised and settled America that was emerging, etc... The last shot of the movie he can't bring himself to enter the house... Symbolic...
Have you seen Hostiles? It's a recent movie that takes a different route, but also features a warrior/soldier, but one who is tasked with protecting and escorting a Comanche tribal leader who killed many of his comrades... The movie has different focus from The Searchers and is more in keeping with a spirit of atonement for the bloody part of America's birth, but is also hopefull and recognises the power of reconciliation and hope for a joint future... It's a flawed movie and not in The Searcher's league but inspired by it for sure.
So I agree with you that it could be remade in that way, but probably a sensitive filmmaker can do the subject more justics with more nuance than what we fear, i.e. it doesn't become come contemporary polemic against the past, nor alternatively gloss over the ugliness and messiness of history...
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[deleted]
6 years ago
Yes, I was exaggerating a bit. I love The Searchers and would hate to see it remade (though a movie called Preacher attempted to do so in a post-apocalyptic setting about six or seven years ago). Wayne's performance is amazing. When he has a change of heart about his niece, it just about brings me to tears. I hope movies can get back to nuance and stop beating us over the head with Critical Theory 101 histrionics.
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Renovatio (2990)
6 years ago
Yeah, I expected as much 👍 ... Yes, The Searchers is a bona fide classic, not just a Western classic, but a classic as a movie...
I think the lack of nuance in movies these days is primarily because the writers and the filmmakers do not have a broad enough life experience... Not only do they seem to refer mostly to other movies for inspiration and ideas, but it's a small subset of movies at that (a lot of them seem like empty homages and remixes)... I rarely get a sense that these filmmakers are well read beyond a specific subject area and even moreso I rarely get the sense that they can appreciate a wider spectrum of what it is to be human...
There are exceptions of course, but what troubles me is that most filmmakers don't seem to recogise this as something to strive for... or at least it doesn't show in their movies...
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