It's an exceptional rendering of Cooper's old tale about the so-called French and Indian Wars, which in Europe was called the Seven Years War. There's the merest hint of it here but this provided the springboard for the Revolutionary War. England was at war with France and was nearly broke, in part from defending its colonies in America. England imposed taxes on the colonies to help pay its debt. The taxes included taxes on tea, and the colonials saw it as "taxation without representation." I guess we know where that led.
Back to the movie. Wow -- what scale! The photography by Dante Spinotti is just short of magnificent. He gets it just right without revealing how much effort he puts into each shot. He's easy going too, the DP on two movies I worked in. Michael Mann is in directorial control. Together they have committed to celluloid a memorable shot of Fort William Henry under siege by the French. The first we see of the fort is nothing but what looks like a distant fireworks display on the Fourth of July -- behind the tree line, some vermilion flashes of light reflected from clouds of smoke and seconds later the barely discernible pops of cannon fire.
I won't go on about the plot. It's complicated. And it's not unfamiliar: the man of nature saving the innocents who represent civilization. Shane was such a figure. So were Hondo and Tarzan.
French and English exchange cannon fire and occupy fortified positions. They march through the dank forests in step, wrapped in bright red jackets and topped by peculiar decorative hats. The Huron Indians who have sided with the French have no such encumbrances. They're half naked, they know the terrain, and they have the advantages that all irregulars have, whether Lawrence of Arabia's Bedouin or those now fighting an asymmetric war in the Middle East.
Daniel Day Lewis is credible in the role of the white child adopted by the Mohican Indians. Madeleine Stowe is stunning. The battle scenes are staged well and are particularly brutal. Wes Studi, as the bitter Huron Magwah, rips open the chest of a British officer and raises the still beating heart in his fist.
And Studi gives an impressive performance. With his top knot and war paint and pebbled complexion, he's compellingly ugly. His character is a Huron and the Hurons spoke an Iroquoian language, entirely different from the Alqonquian of the Mohicans. But nobody seems comfortable speaking any Indian language, and for good reason. Mohican is already extinct and all of the Iroquoian languages are either extinct or severely endangered. There were no living speakers of either language to coach the actors, and both languages are hard to speak. Iroquoian has a series of consonants that can be written as "ktspyjam" -- as in "cat's pyjamas." Well, it looks like that was a little off topic. I don't know why I do that. I guess it's because the voices tell me to.
Michael Mann deserves credit if for no other reason that his directorial style is classic. No glitz, no shaky cameras, no instantaneous editing. Well, not much quick editing anyway, and only a few purposeful shots in slow motion.
The writers and the crew have taken what could have been -- and has been, in previous versions -- a stiff and uninvolving action tale, and turned it into rather more than that. It's a good movie.
Back to the movie. Wow -- what scale! The photography by Dante Spinotti is just short of magnificent. He gets it just right without revealing how much effort he puts into each shot. He's easy going too, the DP on two movies I worked in. Michael Mann is in directorial control. Together they have committed to celluloid a memorable shot of Fort William Henry under siege by the French. The first we see of the fort is nothing but what looks like a distant fireworks display on the Fourth of July -- behind the tree line, some vermilion flashes of light reflected from clouds of smoke and seconds later the barely discernible pops of cannon fire.
I won't go on about the plot. It's complicated. And it's not unfamiliar: the man of nature saving the innocents who represent civilization. Shane was such a figure. So were Hondo and Tarzan.
French and English exchange cannon fire and occupy fortified positions. They march through the dank forests in step, wrapped in bright red jackets and topped by peculiar decorative hats. The Huron Indians who have sided with the French have no such encumbrances. They're half naked, they know the terrain, and they have the advantages that all irregulars have, whether Lawrence of Arabia's Bedouin or those now fighting an asymmetric war in the Middle East.
Daniel Day Lewis is credible in the role of the white child adopted by the Mohican Indians. Madeleine Stowe is stunning. The battle scenes are staged well and are particularly brutal. Wes Studi, as the bitter Huron Magwah, rips open the chest of a British officer and raises the still beating heart in his fist.
And Studi gives an impressive performance. With his top knot and war paint and pebbled complexion, he's compellingly ugly. His character is a Huron and the Hurons spoke an Iroquoian language, entirely different from the Alqonquian of the Mohicans. But nobody seems comfortable speaking any Indian language, and for good reason. Mohican is already extinct and all of the Iroquoian languages are either extinct or severely endangered. There were no living speakers of either language to coach the actors, and both languages are hard to speak. Iroquoian has a series of consonants that can be written as "ktspyjam" -- as in "cat's pyjamas." Well, it looks like that was a little off topic. I don't know why I do that. I guess it's because the voices tell me to.
Michael Mann deserves credit if for no other reason that his directorial style is classic. No glitz, no shaky cameras, no instantaneous editing. Well, not much quick editing anyway, and only a few purposeful shots in slow motion.
The writers and the crew have taken what could have been -- and has been, in previous versions -- a stiff and uninvolving action tale, and turned it into rather more than that. It's a good movie.