Didn’t dig this one: the way it infantilizes the peasants and having to watch so many characters make terrible decisions followed by the dire consequences those have, makes it such a tough watch… But I do think there’s a lot to discuss here in terms of themes and messaging, and how much of that discomfort is intentional.
Does the film know that Shango, despite being a highly competent gunman, is also a total buffoon? Is the high body count of the peasants an intentional critique of the one man saves a village trope, or does that give the director here too much credit? Maybe someone more familiar with his other work could chime in on that.
Take the movie’s most questionable scene: when Shango just hands his only gun over to the big bad… two gunman had already snuck up on him anyway. So, the easiest way to get to the next plot point would be to just have them disarm him; but instead, they have him (in the most bewildering move I’ve ever seen onscreen) just hand his gun over, unaware, even, of the men behind him. So, that has to be intentional, right? Is it to show Shango as naive? incompetent? or maybe even chivalrous to a fault?
…or when Shango sets the wagon and hay on fire to root out those two dudes. He just stands there, kind of smug and victorious, while the farmers’ wagon is still burning (awfully close to other wooden structures). The film doesn’t seem to question that at all. I mean, Shango isn’t a morally dubious gunslinger. He’s very much treated as a saviour figure for these folks. Is it weird for me to have read that scene as aloof and callous?
The film’s not all bad though: there are a bunch of really memorable and visually striking scenarios (even if the way we get to them feels spotty).
Also, it’s nice to, when these films openly declare civil war allegiances, to finally have a union protagonist. I know the grain of salt SW’s need to be consumed with means divorcing one’s expectations from the factions depicted -especially because those factions are likely being used as loose allegories for, like, the rise and fall of fascism in Italy or whatnot- but it’s refreshing, after my last few watches, not being asked to root for defenders of slavery.
I also know another grain of salt with these is ignoring the brownface makeup, which is sometimes worse than others, but super tough to see on the child actor here. 