Appaloosa: la rat-censione Following the death of Sheriff Jack Bell, gunned down along with his deputies by a local outlaw, the town has fallen into anarchy Apploosa: under the constant threat of weapons, people helplessly bullying to the gang of thugs led by Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), who, get rid of Bell, dominates the area at will. To restore order the mayor the city entrusts the care of Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen), a pair of mercenaries in the pay of anyone with enough money (and liver), to be at their service. The name of Virgil Cole in the desert sounds like the call of a hungry coyote: the lightning speed with his gun and his methods unorthodox are already part of the legend of the west. Obtained from the mayor carte blanche to act as he wishes, Virgil imposes its law on Appaloosa with the aim to deliver to the gallows Randall Bragg. But when the city comes the beautiful Ellie France (Renée Zellweger), her plans are designed to get complicated.
I always had a love / hate relationship with the western. On the one hand subisco the dazzling charm of his imagery: the wide-open spaces, the dusty roads that cross them, the land scorched by a relentless sun, a land that is offered, hard and sharp as stone, to the pioneers, men of few words like silent prairie around them. The charm the discovery of the trip, the outpost, the duels, survival of a man poised between the law and that of the desert. A world where everything must be won, baptized built. Secondly I find it hard to accept the repetition of hypertrophic topoi, situations and characters too often overlap one another, with the result going to be one big script that, with some slight variation on the theme, tends to repeat itself endlessly.
Ed Harris's film, here in the double role of actor and director, I reconciled with the genre, and does so by engaging in a spectacular plant and very classical narrative (the band of outlaws who break the fragile order of an outpost in the Wild West and the executioners mercenaries ready to restore) a unique story of friendship between two men whose icy calmness hides unexpected disturbances.
Virgil Cole is the classic western hero "in one piece, clear mind and reflexes, the gait sure who knows he can win every battle at first glance. And yet ... and yet the inscrutable Virgil Cole suffering from some form of dyslexia that forced him to ask for help to come up when "he is not a word." Yet Virgil Cole, incorruptible sheriff eyes of ice, perhaps hides the desire to end to his eternal wandering and marry. Maybe right here, for Appaloosa. Maybe with Ellie, the pianist recently arrived in the city. His wish is fulfilled soon, too soon. Ellie proves fickle woman, desperate to find someone who can offer physical protection and economic security. If Virgil is to give them all the better. But when another rooster in the hen house ...
We see the consolidation of its image as a lawman willing to do anything to achieve the goal, but also to the gradual disintegration of some certainty, to sudden bursts of loss in an otherwise inscrutable gaze. And as Virgil Cole, rough Sheriff carved into the rock of the desert, next to his shows to be imperfect, corruptible, human. And as such, need to assert their individuality in a relationship with his neighbor: Everett Hitch, a former soldier and inseparable companion of wandering, a friend and confidant, adviser and bodyguard.
And it is in the relationship between Virgil and Everett that the large majority of the power of film, a western "modern" that makes the social dynamics and personal rather than the charm of his best weapons Frontier . Of course, fans of the western "classical" gather most of the issues dear to them: battles, shootings, chases, fights the saloon, the sun that blinds the eyes and dry skin, wild land that is lost horizon. Even the Indians and Mexicans. But Harris surprise: part of the disturbance, opened a few small crack here and there, put in the mouths of actors exchanging jokes that you do not expect.
really splendid dialogue, steeped in irony and pungent never predictable, and equally splendid performances by a cast in shape (Harris and Mortensen give us a couple of characters that will be remembered long), capped by a performance of a Renée Zellweger is set to perfection in that part of the woman apparently fragile, ma che sa perfettamente chi e cosa vuole, e come ottenerlo. Forse più “classica” la figura di Bragg nel suo essere villain a tutto tondo, ma Harris si diverte a giocare anche con lui, sparigliando le carte in tavola quando forse lo spettatore non se lo aspetta più.
Una regia pulita ed essenziale, ma non per questo emotivamente arida, e una fotografia di grande impatto completano il comparto tecnico di un film il cui risultato finale supera di gran lunga la somma delle sue parti: lunga vita al western.
