If the film Hostiles demonstrates anything, it demonstrates how truly brutal the
Indian wars in America were. Set after the Wounded Knee massacre which occured in 1890 that is generally by historians considered to mark the end of
said wars apparently there were still hostile Indians to deal with.
In 1892 as a gesture of humanity none other than Benjamin Harrison prsident of the United States of America orders that the terminally ill chief of the Cheyennes who was captured and in prison be returned home to die. Wes Studi is accompanied by his family and accompanying them is an army detail commanded by Captain Christian Bale on the eve of his retirement.
As a given it is established that both these men did some pretty brutal things in the war that could be called atrocities. Studi however with his meeting with his Maker just on the horizon is more mellow. When things start Bale is a hostile as ever.
Along the way the patrol also picks up Rosamund Pike whose family was recently massacred by some final Comanche holdouts. Having recently had to bury four of her family, she's got fresh reasons for her hostility.
It's quite an odyssey that Bale, Studi, and Pike and the rest go on. In fact that choice of words isn't just by chance this is a journey where people's character is tested and not everyone makes it. If you're expecting a treatment of the US Cavalry like a John Ford film, Hostiles is definitely not it.
The pace is slow, almost agonzingly at times and for some reason the director had people mumbling their dialog and it was hard to here. But Hostiles is beautifully photographed and words alone don't tell this story.
Quite the epic western, Hostiles.
In 1892 as a gesture of humanity none other than Benjamin Harrison prsident of the United States of America orders that the terminally ill chief of the Cheyennes who was captured and in prison be returned home to die. Wes Studi is accompanied by his family and accompanying them is an army detail commanded by Captain Christian Bale on the eve of his retirement.
As a given it is established that both these men did some pretty brutal things in the war that could be called atrocities. Studi however with his meeting with his Maker just on the horizon is more mellow. When things start Bale is a hostile as ever.
Along the way the patrol also picks up Rosamund Pike whose family was recently massacred by some final Comanche holdouts. Having recently had to bury four of her family, she's got fresh reasons for her hostility.
It's quite an odyssey that Bale, Studi, and Pike and the rest go on. In fact that choice of words isn't just by chance this is a journey where people's character is tested and not everyone makes it. If you're expecting a treatment of the US Cavalry like a John Ford film, Hostiles is definitely not it.
The pace is slow, almost agonzingly at times and for some reason the director had people mumbling their dialog and it was hard to here. But Hostiles is beautifully photographed and words alone don't tell this story.
Quite the epic western, Hostiles.