Describing a film as being “feminist”, as Hilary Swank did with The Homesman, is all well and good during promotion as it helps shift tickets for a film that, in reality, is a fairly hard sell. Issues arise, however, when people actually see the film and realise that it is, in fact, anything but. And that is no slight on director and star Tommy Lee Jones, who has made an accomplished, beautifully shot and patient Western, but rather a reflection of the times in which the film is set.
Revisionist history is nothing new to the world of cinema. How many popular films about World War II have offered anything near a balanced account of the incredibly complex series of events that led up to the conflict, and the constantly changing political landscape that shaped the outcome of six years of fighting? Germany = Bad, Allies = Good is far simpler for audiences to understand. The horrible recent depiction of the Tuskegee Airmen in Red Tails, where the first all black pilot corps were presented as a bunch of wise-cracking, jive talking stereotypes, is the perfect example of history being manipulated to try and appeal to a specific audience.
But the time period in which The Homesman is set, 1850’s Midwest America, was a brutal time for anyone, most of all woman. Life was remarkably cheap, and the opportunity for heroics was limited, simply surviving in a climate that tried its best to swallow you up was a remarkable achievement. Some of the film’s female characters are strong in the face of such adversity, but crumble in a manner of different ways as events unfold. This isn’t a result of their gender, as there isn’t a single character, man or woman that finishes the film unscathed.
The plot is fairly traditional, following the blueprint set by countless Westerns before it (most recently the 3:10 to Yuma remake) in portraying the journey of George Briggs (Jones) and Mary Bee Cuddy (Swank) across dangerous territory to deliver three young women driven insane by the hardships of life on the frontier, to a church in Iowa that can care for them properly.
Mary is a middle-aged spinster perpetually labelled as plain and unwanted by men, although ostensibly equipped with the survival instincts that have seen her carve out a life and moderately successful farm. Her partner for the journey is George, a claim jumper whom she rescues from the noose in return for his help on the voyage. He’s uncultured and vulgar, but soon proves his worth by saving the lives of Mary and the three women after they encounter a group of hostile Native Americans.
Whilst the label of feminist might be ill-placed, The Homesman does provide an interesting exploration into the lives of women during the time, including the societal pressures for women to be married in order to be considered worthy, and their sexuality being their only useful tool when dealing with men.
The brilliant cast makes the film, with the impressive performances of Jones and Swank joined by pitch-perfect appearances from Meryl Streep, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson and Hailee Steinfeld.
It is a measured and interesting film that is well worthy of joining the canon of great modern Westerns, probably most comparable to Kelly Reichardt’s existentialist Meek’s Cutoff. At times nihilistic, at others progressive, The Homesman is constantly absorbing and unsentimentally poetic.
The Homesman is currently showing at Cineworld Nottingham and will be released at Broadway Cinema on Friday 19 December 2014.
The Homesman official site
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