Unforgiven-A Brillant Revisionist Western
Unforgiven is the rare revisionist Western that doesn't completely try to subvert the genre. Its story plays to the tropes and cliches typical for the genre, centering around a protagonist with a violent past on a quest for retribution who goes up against a corrupt sheriff of a small Western town. By and large, the story has the makings of your standard Western narrative.
The subversion comes from how the film assesses the violence typical for this genre. The film attempts to debunk the mythology of the West by showing that among the impressive feats of these characters, they're also people whose violent actions have left them a husk of who they once were. Some of these characters, such as English Bob and Little Bill, relish in the violence of their past, but it only makes them angry, overly egotistical individuals. The Schofield Kid relishes in violence, naively thinking it makes him cool or impressive, only to find himself breaking down at the first life he takes. Then, there's William Munny, a man who once was an angry and violent individual whose love for his wife and children rehabilitated him but who then finds himself devolving back into the violent, angry individual he once was. Unforgiven is a film that features character after character who, in one way or another, is confronted by the violent actions of their past or present.
Unforgiven also feels subversive in how naturally it conveys the character interactions. Each interaction features little of the stylized dialogue you expect in the Western genre. Instead, each interaction plays out very naturally, like the real conversations of characters who feel genuine and human.
The subversion also comes from how the film portrays the tragedy of the real West within a conceptually conventional Western narrative. The women who hire William Munny, Ned Logan, and The Scholfeld find themselves gaining less and less agency in the story, eventually left watching from the sidelines as the violence occurs around them, as was the case for many women in the time period in which the film takes place. The film portrays the violence that most Westerners would portray as stylish or cool as genuine tragedies. Men get shot down one by one, and in one sequence, a young man bleeds out as he slowly dies. There's very little of the conventionally "cool" violence of your classic Western, and instead, all the film leaves you with is tragedy after tragedy.
Unforgiven is the perfect revisionist Western. It's a film that takes a conventional Western narrative and spins it into a genuine tragedy that takes a deep, intricate look at the violence of this genre. Beautifully shot, with expert blocking and composition, there's the perfect combination of visual and verbal storytelling through its pitch-perfect script and performances. At the hands of Clint Eastwood, the revisionist side of the story becomes a lot more profound as Eastwood subverts the genre he had a hand in making, taking stylized characters and violence and making it feel real in such a profound, tragic way.
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