LAST OF THE MOHICANS Movie Review
1992 Michael Mann
“Their kids would have such great hair!”
That's what a publicist spontaneously said of stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe after a preview screening of this historical romance. The remark explains to a large degree the film's huge boxoffice success, and it remains as much a love story as a war story. So is Casablanca. But the movie is also an exciting, if historically fanciful, depiction of early Colonial wars.
It's 1757, the third year of the French and Indian War, somewhere on the frontier west of the Hudson River (actually the North Carolina mountains at their most scenic). There, Hawkeye (Day-Lewis), aka Nathaniel Poe, Chingachgook (Russell Means), and Uncas (Eric Schweig) roam the forest and make a living as trappers. (This being an exceptionally polite and “correct” retelling of history, we never actually see them trapping small furry creatures. In fact, they even apologize to a deer they shoot.) They have nothing to do with the war until they come upon the vengeful Magua (Wes Studi) and his Huron war party as they attempt to kill Cora (Stowe) and Alice (Jodhi May), daughters of the English Col. Munro (Maurice Roeves). Eventually, our heroes find themselves in Fort William Henry under siege by the French forces of Gen. Montcalm (Patrice Chereau) and his Huron allies. Then they've got to take sides in the war, but it's not a clear-cut choice.
The Brits, stereotyped as mindless authoritarian bullies, demand that the settlers, stereotyped as rugged individualists, obey their orders and serve in the militia. Hawkeye foments sedition while swapping smoldering glances with Cora.
The siege is a grand affair of roaring nighttime cannon and mortar attacks. It and other aspects of the plot are loosely based on fact, but director Michael Mann plays fast and loose with history and his source material. He and writer Christopher Crowe streamline James Fenimore Cooper's novel, paring it down to a few big scenes and letting the glamorous cast do the rest.
Viewed simply as highly polished escapist adventure, the film is virtually perfect. Unlike the stiff characters in so many historical dramas, these people look comfortable, like they're wearing clothes, not costumes. This Hawkeye is a Samurai warrior in buckskins, and Cora's heaving bodice is ready to rip. Magua is a strong, vibrant villain with the curious flaw that screenwriters so often ascribe to Indians. Even though Magua is fluent in English, French, and Huron, he sometimes lapses into pidgin, and he hasn't grasped the concept of the first person singular pronoun. The words “I,” “mine,” and “my” are not in his vocabulary. Magua always speaks of himself in the third person.
Because the film is so relentlessly stylish—Mann is still best known for the TV series Miami Vice—it's pointless to criticize either the historical or emotional accuracy. The real inspiration here is the exotic romanticism of such '30s adventures as Charge of the Light Brigade, Gunga Din, and Lives of a Bengal Lancer, where stalwart heroes never waver in the face of savage foes.
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis (Hawkeye), Madeleine Stowe (Cora Munro), Wes Studi (Magua), Russell Means (Chingachgook), Eric Schweig (Uncas), Jodhi May (Alice), Steven Waddington (Maj. Duncan Heyward), Maurice Roeves (Col. Edmund Munro), Colm Meaney (Maj. Ambrose), Patrice Chereau (Gen. Montcalm), Pete Postlethwaite (Capt. Beams), Terry Kinney (John Cameron), Tracey Ellis (Alexandra Cameron), Dennis Banks (Ongewasgone), Dylan Baker (Bougainville), Mac Andrews (Gen. Webb); Written by: Christopher Crowe, Michael Mann; Cinematography by: Dante Spinotti; Music by: Trevor Jones, Randy Edelman; Technical Advisor: Dale Dye. Producer: Michael Mann Company, Inc., Hunt Lowry, James G. Robinson, 20th Century-Fox. Awards: Academy Awards '92: Best Sound. Box-office: 72.45M. MPAA Rating: R. Running Time: 114 minutes. Format: VHS, LV, Letterbox.