Historical movies
are often controversial because they tend to play fast and loose with the facts
in order to prioritize spectacle for the sake of reaching mass audiences. I
should know a lot more about the history behind Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans (1992) since it
features the historical figure General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, a key figure
in the history of Quebec City which I consider to be my home town. I don’t know
if he is accurately portrayed, but the movie itself is an old-fashioned
historical epic with romance, action and drama. Maybe I’ll read up on the
history later.
The movie itself
is based on a novel that was published in 1826 by American author James
Fennimore Cooper. I read the book a few years ago, but mostly because there was
a free version online and I was curious to read a novel that dealt with that
period of history. It was definitely not a page-turner, which is something Mann
and co-writer Christopher Crowe must have had in mind when they were adapting
the screenplay. I watched the movie last year on Canada Day, since it features
characters that are part of the country’s history, and noticed that there is a
lot more emphasis on the romance and melodrama than in the novel. It may not be
historically accurate, but it makes for an entertaining movie.
On the other
hand, having Daniel Day-Lewis as the lead ensures some details will be so
accurate you could swear you are looking at an actual trapper during the French
and Indian Wars in the Adirondack Mountains. Day-Lewis plays Nathaniel Poe,
also known as Hawkeye, a white man who was raised by Mohican Chief Chingachgook
(Russell Means). I have heard stories, which may as well be myths, about how
the English actor prepared to get into character with his usual zeal. From what
I read, maybe he spent days living in the woods the way Hawkeye would have and
he might have learned how to hunt, fish and build a canoe. Every time I read
about method actors like Day-Lewis I’m just glad he never played a serial
killer.
Hawkeye and his
adopted family are introduced when they rescue Cora and Alice Munro (Madeleine
Stowe and Jodhi May); the daughters of a British Colonel (Maurice Roëves) after
Huron warriors ambush them. Huron warrior Magua (Wes Studi) has a major grudge
against the colonel and would very much like to kill his family, but Hawkeye
and his brothers are heroic figures so they are not just going to let that
happen. Then of course Cora falls in love practically at first sight with
Hawkeye, which is a problem for Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington) who
had proposed to Cora not ten minutes earlier in the movie. Love triangle alert.
That’s the
romance and melodrama part of the movie. The action and historical battles part
go in full swing at Fort William Henry, which is under siege by the French
troops, led by our good friend Montcalm (Patrice Chéreau), and their Huron
allies. My mom told me that when she was growing up in History classes students
were taught about how the good Indians fought for the French side and the bad
Indians fought for the English. I’m sure that in real life it was way more
complicated than that, and that the First Nations people themselves might have
a thing or two to say about that.
The third act of
the movie is pure spectacle, featuring a bloody ambush by the Hurons, a chase
through the woods, noble sacrifices, and fights fuelled by revenge taking place
over steep cliffs. Some of the gorgeous locations where all of this takes place
reminded me of woods where I sometimes go for walks in Quebec City, the city
where Montcalm died a few years after this movie is set. Where is his movie by
the way?
The Last of the Mohicans probably doesn’t get an A+ from historians, but
Michael Mann sure knows how to direct an action sequence, and between Day-Lewis
performance and the beautiful locations you can’t help but be swept in the
movie’s spectacle.
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