Another day, another write up. Happy New year guys. This year I hope to God I would be able to write more articles, maybe even beat a personal record this year like say maybe two hundred write ups, heck I hope I would even have the power or the right frame of mind to do that honestly but let's see how it goes, colloquial freelance writing is fun and the best in my opinion compared to all the other types I writing. I feel like it gives you the most freedom of expression and there are no rules that guy how you write and what you write so therefore you can use as many words as possible and the direction of the writing can go anywhere or maybe it's not truly the case and I'm just a shitty writer,I guess we'll never know.
INTRODUCTION
Today guys I am going to writing a review on one of the best films I saw in last year and that is Jeymes Samuel's directorial debut film; The harder they fall starring the like s of Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, Regin Hall, Lakieth Stanfield, Zazzie Beatz amongst others and you gotta admit that's a star studded line up, heck this film's got Jay Z as an executive producer I mean come on you know you're about to see a film about slavery and black consciousness but not in the way you imagined for sure. I remember when I saw the trailer for the film and immediately I was sceptical about it because a seemingly conscious film about black Americans living in the western times in America sounded like the all familiar slavery story I had seen over and over and after seeing how well Django Unchained told that story I wasn't too interested in seeing another director try it again especially not one who had such a story as his directorial debut but boy oh boy was I wrong, this film completely surpassed my expectations. So with that in mind, let's take a look at the plot, structure, style and themes of Jeymes Samuel's The harder the fall
The Plot.
The story kicks of with a scene set in wild west of America sometime around the 1850s to the end of the 19th century. It opens with a pastor who leads his family in prayers only to be interrupted by knock on the door. As he opens it up, to see who it is, a look of terror and dread fills his face. The camera focus on the back of the man's head and the perspective is that of this man looking down on the pastor and his family. He leads the pastor back to the table with his family where the pastor begins to beg for the life of his family, the man however shoots the pastor's wife then the pastor while his son desperately tries to save them and he then proceeds to carve a cross on the boy's forehead before leaving the house, we later come to discover that the killer's name is Rufus Buck and the young boy who's head was cut turned out to be Nate Love. The scene then cuts to the opening credits where we are introduced to the members of the two gangs who play the most important part in this film, The Nate Love gang and The Rufus Buck gang followed by the scene where Nate Love murders one of the men who accompanied Rufus that day to kill his father, the man who held his head for Rufus Buck to cut through. From there the story goes on to show how Rufus Buck is broken out from a prison transport by members of his gang and the ominous atmosphere that follows his reveal in that scene is so powerful and effective, like a dangerous wild lion bring released from his cages by other highly dangerous members of his crew. In that scene we get to see a little bit of the personalities that define the key members of his group, from the no nonsense ruthlessness Trudy Smith (Regina King) who's the second in command of the gang and the metaphorical neck which carries Rufus Buck, she is his right hand man, closet confident and his wife, she is methodical and decisive as she is ruthless and imposing.
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Next up is Cherokee Bill (Lakeith Stanfield) who is the third highest ranking member of the gang who is cold, cunny and calculative having this swagger about him, also he is a criminal with a code which makes him sort of likable at the beginning until we see his true colors and then we realize why he is a criminal and on the opposing side in the first place.
When we are introduced to the members of both gang a series of events happen that set up the confrontation between Nate Love and Rufus Buck, from Rufus' escape from prison to his recapturing of his town, yes you heard that right Rufus Buck has a town all to himself where he is mayor and dictator, to Mary Fields' (Zazzie Beatz) capture by the Buck gang which eventually lead to Nate Love's capture and subsequent robbery of a white bank (that scene was so so good), to Jim Beckworth's first and last confrontation with Cherokee Bill and then the eventually standoff between the two gangs whose ending was very surprising and emotional, for me at least. The story does take us for a long ride seemingly appearing as though it's going to be over in by the time we get to act to but then it is smartly stretched out to accomodate more adventure and events in such a manner that the story teller doesn't seem lost of ideas. Which leads me to the next topic of discussion.
The Structure and Themes
I don't really have a lot to talk about here other than the setting, the pacing and design of the story. It's a classic wild west story, but a wild west story about free slaves and it comes with a twist. All the major characters are black, from the protagonists to the antagonists to the neutral characters who get killed for character personification, everyone's black, except the lily white town scene (which I dare say was too damn funny). Unlike Django Unchained which was a story about freed slaves fighting for their survival in the wild west, this story is about freed slaves years later after regaining their freedom trying to build a society for themselves and realizing the vision of a utopia where all black people live as one happy people regardless of their difference, united by the color of their skin, is untrue. Yes I know it is quite a mouthful, but I will try to explain why this is quite striking and enjoyable to me. You see this film doesn't fall for the old racism bait where the story is consumed by racist or vengeful biases of the scriptwriter. Something that Jordan Peele's films suffer from. Instead it focuses on the reality of human nature which is that evil is neither white nor black, it comes in all colors and is easily passed from one fellow to another. That's why the film highly focuses on black characters who fight against each other for their own motivations. There's a scene where Rufus Buck kills in the town because he opposed the taxes on the people in order to raise the reserves because the land and the livelihood of the people are about to be sold off to the highest bidders who would come in, drive out the people and take all their property for themselves. This scene is example of how drastic actions can be taken by anyone, it's not a white man putting a black under oppression, instead it's a black putting another black under suppression in order to save his dream even though he claims he doesn't dream.
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It's an example of how oppression exists everywhere among all people and the only thing that's different in each case is the motivation behind it. Then there's the pacing of the film, like I said earlier at some point in the film it looks like the final confrontation between both gangs is about to happen. When we see Nate Love's gang rally up behind him we assume that they are going to raid the town guns blazing and all and we will get the final show down but that doesn't happen, then Mary gets kidnapped and there's a scene where it looks like it's going to be the show down, heck Jim Beckworth straight up challenges Cherokee Bill to a face off only for Bill to leave him there on his own and it's played in such a comedic way it passes everyone. Which brings me to the next part of the structure of the film the tone and the mood of this film. It has a mix of everything, it's melodramatic, sad, comedic, intense and thrilling and satisfying all at the same time. I believe the comedic timing is absolutely perfect, with characters like Jim Beckworth and Nate Love carrying the funny element of the story and Rufus Buck and Trudy Smith carrying the seriousness and intensity of the film, so it's very much balanced. It's all done in such a way that these emotions are timed perfectly to help the story progress and they aren't done in such a way that one offsets the other, whenever we see Rufus Buck on screen we immediately brace ourselves for an intense situation but whenever we see Nate Love on screen we are prepared for something spontaneous and exciting. Finally there is the pacing of the story which I would say is mid range. In certain high action scenes we see things happen very quickly and it's interchanged with other scenes actions scenes where things happen at a steady pace for example the Mary Fields vs Trudy Smith fight scene is intercut with shoot out scene outside in the final act. We see a lot of fast paced action juxtaposed with a steady ongoing fight where in one case, one fight is yet to be concluded in another a series of show downs are concluded in quick succession, it's such an exciting spectacle to see. Compare this to the final showdown scene of The Man from U.N.C.L.E where instead of having a full length scene of our protagonist defeating the antagonist's pawns in succession, we only got three panels of them killing the enemies, that really made me disappointed. I believe this kind of pacing that is the one we see in The harder they fall works best for action movies. Finally let's talk about the characters
The Characters
All members of the Nate love gang stand out to me and three members of the Buck gang stand out to me. I love how this film designs characters in such a way that each of them is unique and each of their actions carry a significant piece of the story. None of them is the same even though they share similarities. Starting with our protagonist Nate Love who embodies spontaneousness (I don't know if that's a word) and who's a mix of the comedic and the intense. He's a criminal with a heart and is against unnecessary violence and bloodshed only choosing to kill in revenge or when the lives of his loved ones are threatened. He embodies the heroic outlaw who lives free as the wind trying to escape the burden in his heart. Next we have Mary Fields the pragmatic outlaw who is nothing like Nate Love but has fallen for his charm. She is the outlaw who has no plans of staying an outlaw but wants to build a life and a sustainable business for herself. In a sense she is the outlaw that steals Nate Love's heart and the one who tames that free spirit in him.
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The same goes for Trudy Smith but in this case she is the neck and shoulders that support Rufus Buck and his vision. She is the organiser and the overseer of the Buck gang, taking instructions from him and dispensing it to the other members of the gang, she is basically the one who runs the day to day affairs of the town. Then we have Cherokee Bill, the outlaw with a code at least that's what he appears to be until we later realise that he is nothing more than just an outlaw. He is the henchman with the skill to outmatch others but he's a cheat in the name of being smart. Then there's other characters like the Marshall, Bill Pickett the loyal friend and wise sniper, Cuffee the girl with dreams and the the strength to take it and of course my man Jim flipping Beckworth the funniest, most free spirited shooter the west has ever seen, I loved him so much I think he even stole the show. Each and everyone of these characters like I said earlier play a crucial role in the story and their actions define the story's direction and trajectory they all have their individual motivations and characteristics and they all come together to work harmoniously in such a way the story works as a whole.
Conclusion
I don't have much to say here, I think I said everything I needed to say already. Overall I really loved this film because it took me by surprise. I thought I was going to be seeing a cliche western story about free slaves fighting for survival but it turns out this was nothing like that. I was a revenge tale told in such a compelling manner that it spoke to the collective human experience instead of the experiences of a select group hence it wasn't an ostrasizing story. Like I said it was a well thought out, well executed revenge story that happened to take place in the wild west and happened to be about free slaves who were trying to build their own society, a truly beautiful story indeed with well grounded characters each with his or her own compelling motivation. That's how I see the harder the fall.
So tell me what did you think about this movie was it good, was it bad, did you enjoy it, did it disappoint you, let me know in the comments section and please do leave an upvote on this post and do share it. In my next post I will be reviewing the best films of 2020 and 2021 together so it would probably be one I would break into two parts I need you guys to watch out for that cause I would love to have you engage on that very post so until I see you again on this virtual space, Ciao.