John Ford, John Wayne, Sergio Leone.....
They defined the Western, from the characters to the narrative, various film elements were gradually dyed with the color of the desert and became the soul of the Western. But the Westerns have been in decline for many years, and Hollywood's last cowboy, Eastwood, has entered an advanced age, and has long since ended his own era and westerns with "Unforgivable".
Audiences haven't seen a new Western in a long time. Those old-fashioned laws cannot withstand the polishing and polishing of time, and have long been eclipsed, arousing the interest of the audience and attracting the attention of fans. Finally, a Frenchman changed the status quo and made an eye-catching "Western". "The Sisters Brothers" has all the elements of a Western.
The desert of California, cowboy riding boots, tough mustangs, pistols pulled out without a word, and the dark calculations that can be encountered at any time. "The Heath Brothers" adds the elements of the Western to the image elements of the film, and then breaks them one by one and reassembles them, so that you can see the "other side" of the West. The film was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival and eventually won the Silver Lion Award.
The biggest feature of "The Heath Brothers" is undoubtedly the anti-genre! The Westerns of John Ford and John Wayne, the desert is lonely and smokey, desolate and unyielding, and the hero is fierce and turns the tide. In Leone, the hero will be teased and suffer greater crises, but his inner sense of justice will sparkle, and he will accept the cheers of the people and put on the cloak of God no matter what. Even in Eastwood, the heroes are pulled off the altar, old and weak, weak and decadent, but the road is uneven, the awe-inspiring side of righteousness still dominates the whole film, they will be abandoned by the times, they will be forgotten by the people, but they will be engraved into the memory of the audience.
This time, the French director Jacques Odia, playing more desperately, his western hero is two fallen killers, no one waits for them to rescue, no city waiting for them to guard, there is no ideal and value to stick to, they are only responsible for themselves and their brothers, reaching out for desire and money, killing is easy, and it must be done.
Not only does the hero have the appearance of a demon, but even the story becomes "as light as a feather", just to hunt down a scientist who has escaped, but for that little bounty. The protagonist of the anti-hero, the anti-genre story, becomes soft and moving after the reorganization and filling of the Frenchman Jacques Odia. Violence is undoubtedly the most important thematic element of Westerns, Jacques Odia can shoot violence into complex layers and different textures, and is good at portraying the struggle of marginal characters in difficult situations.
At the same time, his films have the ornamental and entertaining nature that many of the author's films do not have, using a highly stylized approach to shoot a story with both a sense of reality and genre characteristics, and the style is getting stronger and stronger, presenting a highly condensed sense of realism and allegory.
The beginning of The Heath Brothers highlights the determination to be anti-genre. As the most important violent element of the Western, there is no splash of blood, no bullet marks everywhere, empty wilderness, dark night, guns that turn the sky red, gunshots across the sky, and the two sides are on fire, but you don't fully see the direction of people. The Heath brothers attacked quickly, decisively encircled, the sword was about to see blood, and the two cleaned up the mess without showing a trace of pity.
It wasn't until his older brother Eli told his brother Charlie to be safe that the bloody night revealed a little warmth. The first act is brilliant, simple but straightforward, Eli is the brain of the team, and the younger brother Charlie is greedy and reckless, which sets the stage for the story that follows.
Our protagonists are not traditional down-and-out cowboys, but bounty hunters, brother killers.
They were sent by the "general" to hunt down a scientist, Morris, who had a potion to make gold appear at the bottom of the river.
Hermann tracked Morris halfway, leaving messages so that Heathstone, who had been chasing him, knew the exact direction.
Seeing that Morris was fierce and had become a turtle in an urn, his fate suddenly reversed.
Hermann defected to Morris halfway through, and the two decided to join forces to form a company that would use Morris's methods to mine gold to get rich and use the "first bucket of gold" to achieve their dreams. The Heath brothers could not disobey the general's will and chased all the way, and the situation continued to flow along the way. At this time, the theme of "The Brothers of Hisstes" began to be enriched, and the anti-genre elements continued to deepen.
We see the other side of the killer, first and foremost the conflict within each of them. Older brother Eli hopes to get rid of his outlaw career as a killer as soon as possible, and younger brother Charlie knows nothing but killing. Coupled with the tragedy of the two original families, Eli has always felt guilty about her brother. Eli wanted to escape, but he couldn't do anything about it. Then there is the increasing pressure on the outside. The general's orders could not be disobeyed, and for the rest of their lives, they were all pawns of the general, and with half a point of difference, the Heath brothers would be hunted down.
Their only way was to kill them one by one until they held the general's head with a gun. Pressure from the inside out tormented the Heath brothers as if their fate had only one path, to kill, or to be killed. Before the cruelty of fate, the film also shows the fragile side of the killer, which is also the real side of Westworld. For example, in the wind meal camp, the killer will be tortured by a spider and almost killed;
For example, when drunk, you will not be able to hold the gun and become the meat under the knife of others;
The affection and contradiction between the two brothers is the most powerful narrative conflict in the story, and the personalities of the two are completely different, Eli is sophisticated, sincere in his treatment of emotions, even the prostitutes are touched by his gentleness; and Charlie is reckless, treats everything loosely, is driven by the power of death, advocates timely pleasure, they will fight because of disagreements, but when the other party is in danger, they will not hesitate to come forward.
"The Heath Brothers" uses multiple scenes to delicately and accurately show the complexity of human nature and the multi-faceted nature of the already western world.
The third act is the finishing touch of the film, the film is constantly anti-genre, anti-climactic, killers and pursuers for various reasons can only go hand in hand. The four formed a wonderful relationship between them, filling the gap in their own hearts, distinguishing friendships, and seeing the true feelings.
But those unexpected reversals always appear appropriately, which makes people shocked and emotional. The most interesting thing about "The Heath Brothers" is undoubtedly the director Jacques O'd'détarian sense of realism and allegory. The whole story is set in the context of the era of the American gold rush, which is the golden age of cowboys, but it is also the era when cowboys are about to be eliminated. In the film, we see a corner of the great development of the American West from the path of the Heath brothers.
From the perspective of the two brothers, we see the migration of civilization and the development of cities. "Three months ago, it was deserted, then there were tents, there were houses, and now women are talking about the price of flour." The Heath brothers marched westward, and cities and civilizations escalated as a result of the gold rush. When the two brothers came to the city, they saw the crowds of people, and they lamented that no one here might pay attention to them.
Especially when they check into a luxury hotel and pull down the flush toilet, they are excited like a toddler. That's the charm of civilization, and even cold-blooded killers get excited about it. In a civilization, everyone will be quietly changed. Eli picked up the toothbrush and studied the toothpaste powder;
Charlie put on her suit and quietly enjoyed steak and red wine;
Morris aspired to build a shared "Garden of Eden", a new home of a communist character; Hermann was called upon by capital to build an oligarchic company that could defeat the family. Originally a cowboy-style chase, I could not imagine that Jacques Odia had integrated such a rich theme connotation, this ability to see the big with the small, this tricky cutting angle, giving people the pleasure of "willow dark flowers and bright villages".
The final warm landing gives the film some poetry. Dreams and far away, always can not reach the warmth of home, injured cowboys, all the way to pursue, all the way to find, but in the end to find, it turns out that they already have everything they want,
Quietly take a hot bath, eat a delicious meal made by your mother, sleep in a bed with memories, temperature, home, on a sunny afternoon, no danger, no task, no desire, put down the gun in your hand, and listen to the wind, and sleep a peaceful sleep.
Home is the end of life.