Blackthorn is an estimable contribution to Western movies. Contrary to the American style, here the epic it's illustrated in a less gimmicky way. There's not apotheosis at the endings of the sequences with a high emotional music theme. Poetry it's in the words, the silences, the landscapes and the development of the characters. Apparently it's a traditional story about compensation with the past, but there's much more. An a-la-Hawks representation of male friendship, a social message, a nostalgic review of classic Western and two little twists in the story that avoid a possible predictable ending. Very interesting it's the Mateo Gil's choice, in opposition to the Roy Hill movie, to show Bolivia as a wide open country. While Roy Hill, in the 1969 movie, shoot the South American scenes in a cloistered vision -to give them a claustrophobic value that works as allegory of the characters mood- in contrast with the North American scenes, Gil hasn't renegade to shoot the desert, the wide plains and even the canyons from Bolivia brought out by the brilliant cinematography of Ruíz Anchía. Perhaps there're a couple of moments that the narrative pace goes down in contemplative scenes, but overall the rhythm and the story will keep your attention. Great works of Sam Shephard, Eduardo Noriega, Stephen Rea and Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau. You would like Blackthorn if you like Unforgiven, Appaloosa, Open Range or, of course, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid but not if your taste it's nearest to The Quick and the Dead, Young Guns I or II, or Cowboys & Aliens.
