Open Range

This week's DVD was Open Range, a 2003 western starring Kevin Costner (Charlie), Robert Duvall (Boss), Annette Bening (Sue), and adspted from a novel - The Open Range Men by Lauran Paine. The plot concerns the range wars that took place in the American West in the late 1800s.

Here's some bits from the Washington Post's review ...

... "Open Range" is the kind of movie that Costner knows how to make, whether he's acting in it or directing. It's about the big things and the small details, a movie about America as a nation but also the specific habits and behavior of individuals. The story takes place at a crucial turning point in America's social history. Isolated settlements are becoming expanding towns and, more and more, the lone riders are being asked to identify themselves with a particular locale. Rugged heroes -- and wandering varmints -- are becoming obsolete.

As for the details, the film exults in them. This is an actor's feast, with finely honed performances from Duvall and Costner. Boss is a man who sees things clearly, no matter if it's the past, present or future. He can see the times changing. He can measure a man's worth. And he can understand the difference between violence and honor.

Charley, a former sniper in the Civil War, has painful memories to forget. He's a step behind Boss in terms of moral development, but he's catching up fast. The proof of that will be his relationship with women, particularly with Sue Barlow (Annette Bening, in one of her finest roles), the doctor's assistant who patches up bleeding men and sends them back into town. For Charley, it's not going to be enough to run cattle and kill those who threaten him. He won't be complete until he reaches and accepts the woman waiting to embrace him.

But forget that heavy stuff. This is also a grand old shooting-party flick, in which the bad guys are bad guys and the good guys have higher purpose ...

I hadn't wanted to see the movie, but my sister brought it over, so I gave it a look. I'm glad I did. The Canadian locations were stunning and the performances were very good. There were two parts of the movie that especially touched me ... the gunfight. It was very, very disturbing, perhaps because the violence seemed so realistic, not romanticized or stylized, but too long, messy and devoid of self-righteous joy .... the relationships. They were authentic, straightforward, vulnerable and almost painful in their honesty.

If you like westerns, or Costner/Duvall/Bening, or just a tale that touches on freedom, redemption, justice and love :-) then you might like Open Range.