Several of Sergio Leone's other films are top favorites of mine, repeated viewingg classics and I really wanted to extend that same level of appreciation to this one. Unfortunately, the lead character is a rapist. Not a cad, not a womanizer, but a predatory compulsive rapist, and the depictions of his rapes are long and graphic. The male characters get beaten and shot for stated reasons, the women characters get raped for no reasons at all other than they exist. I do not know the director's intent in doing so, but the entire tone of the film seems to support an explanation of 'boys will be boys' and 'what did she expect'. It edges on nihilism and I won't be viewing this film ever again.
Review of Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
(1984)
Repeated graphic depictions of rape mar this film
19 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers