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Starring Daniel Day Lewis, Madeleine Stowe. There are a couple of things that you take with you after seeing this film: a) being gallant and chivalrous (protecting the women from harm) can get you killed about as quickly as taking a bullet to the head, b) not speaking a foreign language can in fact have its benefits, namely in certain situations it saves your life, and c) damn, that was a good movie.Not many films end and have me sitting in a shocked silence, starring off into space, replaying the events of the picture in my mind to better understand and appreciate the many nuances and subtleties, but such was the case with The Last of the Mohicans. I couldn't get this movie out of my mind for a good three or four days, as I continually focused my attention on the moving and provocative finale; in retrospect, it's probably a good thing I didn't accept that air traffic controllers position I'd been offered. Michael Mann, who both directed and co-wrote the script, does an exceptional job of recreating life on the colonial frontier. Over the course of the film, the characters, and consequently the viewers, are subjected to life inside a fort under siege, Huron raiding parties, and the all encompassing hand of the British Empire. Mann has a reputation for being a detailed director, never leaving anything to chance or circumstance, however The Last of the Mohicans takes this fastidiousness to another level. There are no problems or flaws with this film. The dialogue and speech patterns ring true to the time, the acting superb, and the battle scenes stunning. I can't begin to imagine how hard it must have been to choreograph and film scenes with literally hundreds of both English colonials and Huron Indians duking it out in full costume. One problem filmmakers face when dealing with battle scenes like these is that the action in their final product may cross the line from gritty to graphic. And while this easily could have been done with The Last of the Mohicans, Mann is careful not to step over that line. As one character says, "Things were done," but they are always done realistically and kept in the proper context. This film paints a spectacular portrait of the life people led in the 1750's, the setting of the North Carolinian Appalachians an excellent backdrop to the engaging story of Nathaniel, Chingatchgook, and Uncas. This is one of the best movies that's been made in the decade.
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