Mads Mikkelsen - The Salvation
One of the biggest reasons the Western died out came from the inevitable familiarity inherent in almost all films in the genre. The ‘Wild West’ period of America’s history only lasted about 25 years between 1865-1890, but served as the basis for hundreds, if not thousands, of films since the inception of motion picture creation.
As such, it remains increasingly difficult to do anything new with a genre that is second only to the sword-and-sandal epic in being declared dead and buried. Kristian Levring’s stylish revenge Western not only manages to come close to providing something new, but also offers everything fans of classic Westerns have come to both love and expect.
The always-excellent Mads Mikkelsen is Jon, a Danish veteran of the Second Schleswig War against Prussia and Austria, now a grizzled settler on the scorched plains of the American Midwest along with his brother, Peter.
After seven years, Jon’s wife and young son are finally able to join him, but only an hour after their long-awaited reunion, both are barbarically killed by two drunk bandits. The pitiful Jon forlornly rides back into town with the lifeless bodies of his wife and son in tow. Following his swift and merciless dispatching of those responsible for their deaths, he soon learns that the men were part of a larger gang. Headed by the villainous Delarue (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), whose own brother was one of the killers responsible, this outfit has kept the town, and in particular its cowardly Mayor Keane (Jonathan Pryce), in a constant state of terror and extortion. Faced with no other option, Jon and Peter decide to face the gang to seek revenge for the deaths of their loved ones.
No one can argue that literally everything written in the paragraph above hasn’t been done at least a dozen times before in other Western films. In that sense, The Salvation is as familiar and formulaic as they come. Its Hawks, Ford and Leone references are clear for all to see, and it plays out in a similar fashion to both classic Westerns and more recent revenge Westerns like Unforgiven and Open Range.
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It does, however, offer something stylistically that sets it aside from its generic Western contemporaries. With distinctly European sensibilities, it is sumptuously shot and visually shares less-flashy similarities with Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead, without the cartoon violence and Morricone-Light score.
Levring succeeds in creating an environment of utter hostility, a time of barbarity and a community of complete ruthlessness. Deaths aren’t romantic or noble; they’re senseless and cheap. The only death that could claim any semblance of glory occurs off-screen, with the body of the man who sacrificed himself only later seen, utterly undignified, being dragged behind a horse. In one scene, after which Delarue has demanded two townspeople be sent to him for execution in retribution for his brother’s death, an elderly woman volunteer is joined by a legless man, dragged kicking and screaming from his bed to be shot.
The cast is impressive, particularly lead Mikkelsen and Eva Green, in the silent role of Delarue’s sister-in-law, her tongue cut out at childhood by savage ‘Injuns’. Former Manchester United enigma Eric Cantona even features as Delarue’s henchman, and isn’t at all as bad as you might expect.
The Salvation failed to stem the tide of consistent Western box office failures, but does provide a visually refreshing, yet inherently classic and thoroughly entertaining, addition to the modern Western catalogue.
The Salvation will be showing at Cineworld Nottingham from Monday 27 April 2015.
The Salvation official website
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