John Huston
The Unforgiven

"The Unforgiven" (1960) presents itself in the Western cinematography as a potentially groundbreaking film. The movie indeed tries to break the typical narrative scheme that sees the opposition between the good guys (the white colonizers) and the bad guys (the red legitimate landowners whose lands were expropriated) with a very interesting plot.

Rachel Zachary (Audrey Hepburn) has grown up knowing she was adopted by a family of landowners perpetually at war with the Kiawa Indians; the appearance of a mysterious old man on horseback disrupts the normal life of the Zachary family and the small Texan community they are part of. Rachel is actually an Indian, and this revelation will lead to much blood being spilled on the arid lands of Texas.

This Western provides Huston the opportunity to tackle a very hot topic in the early '60s, that of racism. Originally, "The Unforgiven" was meant to deeply address the theme of diversity using as a vehicle a typical setting very dear to the cinema of those years. In reality, the director had to adapt the whole film to a more "swashbuckling" style at the behest of Burt Lancaster, producer and actor in the role of Ben Zachary, Rachel's brother. This scaling down results in the film flowing on multiple perceptual levels; the new and hot themes are tackled by Huston with a new language that involves masking them behind seemingly ordinary scenes in a Western film. The result is that "The Unforgiven" is, for those without a very keen eye, a very normal Indians and cowboys film, but for those who pay attention to the details, a very intelligent source of successful and meaningful insights. The film thus takes a very articulated form in which appearance satisfies Lancaster's will but the substance plays entirely in favor of the themes dear to the director. The Indians, for example, do not have much of a voice in the film, their desire to reclaim a component of their tribe is seen by Ben Zachary and his brothers as a vile act that merely expresses an Indian materialistic view of women, an object that can be traded for a few more horses. However, Huston tries to bring out the need of a people to reconnect with a part of their group too early torn from its culture, not many words are needed to express this, just that "sister" expressed by Rachel's Kiawa brother.

If for Lancaster the final massacre is sufficient to set things right, for the director the resolution is entirely in the scene where Rachel kills herself by shooting her Indian brother; with this gesture, Huston highlights the fear of confrontation with the other, the terror that devours those who see the different as a danger even when they are ready to extend a hand as a sign of friendship and respect; a very strong gesture that deeply marks the film.

Despite many concessions to the producer's will (the love between Rachel and her brother Ben is an out-of-place and annoying forced plot), the film comes out decidedly well, excellent cinematography crowns splendid scenes in marvelous boundless landscapes and Audrey Hepburn's skill in a challenging role does the rest. Many argue that "The Unforgiven" has aged very well; I found it very interesting and unconventional and I recommend it to you.