My Favourite Movies: Legends of the Fall

I saw this film almost by accident. It way back in the days before the near-by Multiplex was built and I was in the city centre shopping one Saturday afternoon. Not needing to rush home for anything I checked to see what was on the local 3 screen cinema (can you imagine? 3 screens!).

The only movie that looked even vaguely interesting was this one. I don’t think I’d heard much about it but I must have liked the look of it. Something like a cowboy film, I thought. Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins, I mused. It’ll pass a few hours….. I remember the cinema being mostly empty – just the way I like it. Then the music came up and I relaxed into my seat expecting to be moderately entertained. I’m not sure if it was what they used to do back then in 1994 but I was pleased to see that this movie had an actual story, rather than just enough plot to hold a series of action scenes together (as is today’s ‘fashion’). It all centre’s around Hopkins’s character Colonel Ludlow who, in disgust of the way the government and Army (of which he was part) treated the Native Americans, moved to an out of the way part of America to live in beautiful isolation. Things, however, did not turn out well. First his wife moves out after complaining of the harsh winters and the three boys grow up in varying degrees of wildness and wilfulness. Eventually the youngest, Samuel played by the childlike Henry Thomas, brings home a wife to be, Susannah played by the delightful Julia Ormond. Everyone, all three brothers and even the crusty old colonel is smitten by her beauty and raw innocence. Of course her very presence blows the whole family apart. Samuel is passionate and crushingly naive about what is happening in Europe during the opening months of WW1 and is determined to join up. His two older brothers join too though mostly to try and protect him. Again things do not go well and the two older brothers return without him. Susannah has stayed with Col Ludlow and when Tristan (the favourite middle son) played by Brad Pitt returns they start a passionate relationship much to the horror and disgust of the oldest son Alfred played by Aiden Quinn. But things do not turn out well….. So you see, an actual story with twists and turns, complications and random events, undercurrents, histories and unspoken emotions – well everything really, including the kitchen sink and a few helpings of bloody violence for good (or bad) measure.

Whilst not exactly being a complex film it does cover the lives of about 8-10 people over a number of years so you do have to pay attention. If you popped out for 5 minutes and left the DVD running you’d probably be hopelessly lost so you’ll need to pay attention. The characterisation is very good, especially the relationship between the three siblings and its fascinating to watch their reactions and interactions with and around Susannah who is like a pebble dropped into a fairly placid pool. Completely unintentionally she, just be her very presence, destroys the very family that she was invited into and has grown to love. Of course you will have realised by now that this is far from being a happy story. Some of the characters are happy for a while but they all pay a terrible price for their happiness. There is also no happy ending (I’m not giving much away here) over an accommodation with the past between the surviving members of the cast. They recognise life for what it is (a struggle against things we cannot control and often cannot comprehend) and take what they can from it and hope for the best. This film is unusual in my experience for the time it expends on character and the lives of a small number of people living reasonably ordinary lives (to an extent considering one of the brothers becomes a Senator) and coping with the various tragedies that befall them. It is I think a great film that has passed most of the world by. If you haven’t seen it and love a good, real, complex and heartfelt saga then this will reward a viewing. Put two hours aside from your busy day and lose yourself in this tale of love and tragedy.