Kelly WandJeremiah Johnston
October 17th 2006 06:46
I hadn’t seen this film before. I hadn’t read about it. I’d seen ads for it but, as it looked about as exciting as watching paint dry, I was more than happy to give it a miss. It starred Robert Redford and smelt vaguely of hippies. I don’t know why I thought that. It must have been the stupid beard.
I don’t mind admitting when I am wrong. If the reward is seeing a film as amazing as this one, I hope I am wrong more often.
No reason is given for Jeremiah Johnson’s decision to leave society and become a mountain man. The clue might be his faded army pants but he’s not saying. As a matter of fact, nobody in this film is saying much. Half way through the film, when confronted by a troop of soldiers, he looks on dumb founded as they speak to him. He can barely remember how to speak.
A film of two clearly drawn halves, Johnson leaves society and finds happiness by getting everything he doesn’t want. Just before the intermission, he is given a choice between helping the society he abandoned or respecting what he knows is right. He chooses badly. The first half of the film makes you think my hippy suspicions were well founded. The second half is like a season in hell on the path into legend.
This isn’t a film that looks like it was shot on a lot somewhere. It looks like a documentary and it looks like it was shot somewhere very cold. There is no faking how cold and miserable the filming process must have been. This is the kind of film they don’t make any more on the grounds they would be arrested for blatant disregard of worker’s safety.
The cinematography is beautiful but one gets the feeling there is little chance for it to be anything but. Given the location, it would be hard not to point the camera at some fairly impressive landscape. The story telling by director Sydney Pollock is strong despite (or perhaps because of) the scant dialogue.
Worth taking the phone off the hook for.
I don’t mind admitting when I am wrong. If the reward is seeing a film as amazing as this one, I hope I am wrong more often.
No reason is given for Jeremiah Johnson’s decision to leave society and become a mountain man. The clue might be his faded army pants but he’s not saying. As a matter of fact, nobody in this film is saying much. Half way through the film, when confronted by a troop of soldiers, he looks on dumb founded as they speak to him. He can barely remember how to speak.
A film of two clearly drawn halves, Johnson leaves society and finds happiness by getting everything he doesn’t want. Just before the intermission, he is given a choice between helping the society he abandoned or respecting what he knows is right. He chooses badly. The first half of the film makes you think my hippy suspicions were well founded. The second half is like a season in hell on the path into legend.
This isn’t a film that looks like it was shot on a lot somewhere. It looks like a documentary and it looks like it was shot somewhere very cold. There is no faking how cold and miserable the filming process must have been. This is the kind of film they don’t make any more on the grounds they would be arrested for blatant disregard of worker’s safety.
The cinematography is beautiful but one gets the feeling there is little chance for it to be anything but. Given the location, it would be hard not to point the camera at some fairly impressive landscape. The story telling by director Sydney Pollock is strong despite (or perhaps because of) the scant dialogue.
Worth taking the phone off the hook for.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
The film is faultless and incredible experience everyone should have the pleasure of connecting with.
Comment by Bob Short