The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

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Rating: R
Director: Michael Mann
Writers: James Fenimore Cooper (novel), John L. Balderston (adaptation), Paul Perez (adaptation), Daniel Moore (adaptation), Philip Dunne (1936 screenplay), Michael Mann (screenplay), Christopher Crowe (screenplay)
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Russell Means, Eric Schweig, Jodhi May, Wes Studi
Release Date: September 25, 1992 (United States)
Run time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

THE PLOT:

via wiki

In 1757, British Army Major Duncan Heyward arrives in Albany, New York, during the French and Indian War. He is assigned to Colonel Edmund Munro, the commander of Fort William Henry in the Adirondack Mountains. Heyward is tasked with escorting Munro’s two daughters, Cora and Alice, to their father. Before they leave, Heyward asks Cora to marry him, but she asks for more time before giving her answer.

A Huron named Magua, masquerading as a Mohawk ally, is tasked with guiding Heyward, the two women, and a troop of British soldiers to the fort, but instead leads them into an ambush that kills most of the soldiers. Mohican Chingachgook, his son, Uncas and his white adopted son, “Hawkeye“, arrive and kill all of the Hurons except Magua, who escapes. The trio agrees to take the women and Heyward to the fort. During the trek, they find some of their friends massacred at a farm, but do not stop to bury the victims so as not to alert the Hurons to their presence. Cora and Hawkeye are attracted to each other, as are Uncas and Alice.

They find the fort under siege by the French and their Huron allies, but manage to sneak in. Colonel Munro is surprised to see his daughters, as he had sent a letter warning them to stay away, but it never reached them. Heyward becomes jealous of Hawkeye when Cora tells Heyward she will not accept his marriage proposal. A militiaman sets out at night to try to reach General Webb at Fort Edward for reinforcements, with Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas providing covering fire from the fort.

After Munro refuses to honor an agreement made by Webb that the militiamen could leave to protect their homesteads if they were threatened, Hawkeye helps the men sneak away. He is arrested for sedition and sentenced to hang. But when Munro learns that Webb will send no soldiers, he is forced to accept French general Louis-Joseph de Montcalm‘s terms of surrender; the British can leave the fort honorably with their arms. Magua is furious because he bears a personal grudge against Munro, whom he blames for the murder of his family.

Once Munro, his soldiers and civilians leave the fort, Huron warriors led by Magua attack and massacre them. Munro is mortally wounded by Magua, who promises him that he will kill his daughters and then cuts out his heart. Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook fight their way out of the massacre, taking Cora, Alice, and Heyward. They hide in a cave behind a waterfall, but Magua and the Hurons find them. Before Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook escape by leaping from the waterfall, Hawkeye tells Cora to stay alive and swears that he will find her.

Magua takes his three prisoners to a Huron settlement. While he is addressing a sachem, Hawkeye walks in unarmed as a parley to plead for their lives. The sachem rules that Heyward is to be returned to the British, Alice be given to Magua for the wrongs done to him by Munro, and Cora be burned alive. Although Hawkeye is told he may leave in peace for his bravery, he offers to take Cora’s place. Heyward, who is acting as interpreter, instead tells the Hurons to take his own life for Cora’s. As Hawkeye is leaving the village with Cora, he shoots Heyward, who is being burned alive, as an act of mercy.

Chingachgook, Uncas and Hawkeye then pursue Magua’s party to rescue Alice. Uncas races ahead and kills several of the Hurons in combat, but is killed by Magua and thrown off the cliff’s edge. Devastated to see Uncas’ demise, Alice refuses to remain with Magua and commits suicide by jumping off the same cliff. Enraged, Hawkeye and Chingachgook catch up to the Hurons and kill many of them. Hawkeye then holds the rest at gunpoint, allowing Chingachgook to fight and kill Magua, avenging Uncas’ death. Afterward, Chingachgook prays to the Great Spirit to receive Uncas, proclaiming himself “the last of the Mohicans”.

My Review

The Last of the Mohicans is an incredible movie. The cinematography is gorgeous, the musical score is one of the best of all time, the film’s pacing is crisp, with no wasted moments, the acting is as good as it gets, and the story is an emotional ride, with moments of high anxiety, tenderness, joy, and immense grief. The only thing that would keep me from recommending this film to everyone is that its accurate depiction of the violent frontier fighting, from the French and Indian War, might be a bit too violent for some people.

For those who might not know, this 1992 historical epic is a remake of a 1936 film – even going so far as to point to the original film’s screenplay in its own writing credits. The movie is also based on an 1826 novel, of the same name, by James Fenimore. A lot of effort was put into authenticity, with respect to costuming, weapons, and the overall visual aesthetic of the 1992 film and that work shines through on the screen. Daniel Day-Lewis, famous for method acting, spent weeks training with U.S. special forces learning to use period weapons, start fires, and hunt and skin game. It’s hard to explain how something looks authentic, when it’s a period piece film through which I did not live… but it does. There is a naturalness to the environment, and the people moving within it, and not a Hollywood stiffness.

The movie is probably best remembered for its cinematography and its score. It won a lot of awards for cinematography, sound editing, and score. Even more than thirty years after its release, the movie still holds up incredibly well in those areas. I will probably be spending the next few weeks listening to the soundtrack on repeat. It’s that good.

All of the acting performances are superb. Daniel Day-Lewis is the big name, and he gives an incredible performance. But I was just as impressed by Wes Studi’s portrayal of the Huron, Magua. Both Daniel Day-Lewis and Wes Studi made a “Top 25 actors of the 21st Century so far” list, published by the New York Times, so I tell you they’re really good…

The story of the film is about a few people navigating through frontier battles during the American French and Indian War, which predated the American Revolution by a couple of decades. The plot does a good job of portraying the complicated and brutal nature of life and politics on the American frontier. There is a tendency throughout film history to present Native Americans as one of two extremes: either they are presented as mindless violent savages (particularly common in American Westerns), or they are presented as entirely good and noble, the relics of an ideal but fallen world which was destroyed by European colonization. Both are dehumanizing, in opposite ways. The screenplay here treats its Native characters as human beings, existing on a spectrum of good and evil, with complex motivations inside of a well-organized society. The film does not hide from the brutality Native people endured, nor the brutality they unleashed on others.

The Mohicans protagonists are motivated primarily by a desire to love and protect two British women. Magua, the chief antagonist, is motivated by a desire for revenge against their father that has twisted his heart and made him single-minded and uncommonly vicious. The British, who are also often one-dimensional in American films, are just as well-characterized. Major Duncan Heyward journeys from being the spurned love interest, who lies to have “Hawkeye” jailed for sedition, to a hero who chooses to die horrifically to try to help the Munroe daughters escape. The elder Munroe is portrayed as a decent man in an unwinnable situation – making difficult and arguably wrong choices as a result. Cora Munroe spends the film learning that the world is not what she assumed it to be, and growing more sure in her convictions as her knowledge grows – even when that puts her at odds with her father and Duncan.

The fact that none of the characters feel one-dimensional adds weight to the epic tragedy of the story. As the film ends, and the credits begin to roll, nearly everyone has lost someone or something dear. Despite there being some glimmer of hope for the future, inasmuch as Hawkeye and Cora Munroe survive to perhaps marry and live a long life together, there is also a heavy weight of grief over the film. You cannot help but feel that all of this fighting and dying was purposeless and incredibly tragic. Chingachgook – played by activist-turned-actor Russell Means – gives a really moving dialogue about how with the death of Uncas, his son, he is the very last of the Mohican people alive on the earth.

[last lines]

Chingachgook: Great Spirit, Maker of All Life. A warrior goes to you swift and straight as an arrow shot into the sun. Welcome him and let him take his place at the council fire of my people. He is Uncas, my son. Tell them to be patient and ask death for speed; for they are all there but one – I, Chingachgook – Last of the Mohicans.

I highly recommend this film to everyone, with the caveat that it earns its R rating depicting a high volume of brutal violence. Art sometimes aims to reflect or shed light upon even the worst of life, or history, and that is the case here. Despite this though, the film is beautiful, moving, sad, and absolutely worth seeing.

Have you seen The Last of the Mohicans? If so, what did you think?