Important DetailsWhile watching the movie in class there were several small details that could be looked at differently or even completely ignored. This Western styled movie takes on the story of two honor-bound males, Ethan Edwards and Martin Pawley who search for a little girl who is captured by a band of Indians. After five years of searching for Ethan's niece for 5 years they eventually find her and shes become a part of the Indian tribe; able to adopt to their lifestyle.
|
There were several small details that I felt was trying to get across different messages. The first being that the lack of separation in the town between church and state. The character Johnston Clayton was both the town Captain and the Reverend. The actual character himself seemed obnoxious and impolite at times although very religious. The fact that Ethan was constantly asking which he was at what time (Reverend or Captain) shows how complicated it would be to give power to those with religious authority. Another concept that I noticed however it might be a stretch is about the concept of greed. Ethan put out a reward for any information on where his niece, Debby, was. He gained a small bit on knowledge from a bar owner and paid him a small portion of the reward. Later Ethan and Martin are actually ambushed by the owner and two of his men. These men planned on killing and taking the rest of the reward. Ethan suspected as much and set up an ambush to counter their attack. Greed is something that can poison the minds of almost anyone even in groups of people where everyone knows each other.
|
There was one additional scene that reminded me of a part from one of my favorite movie series, Lord of the Rings. When searching for and tracking the Indians Ethan and Martin come across a platoon of soldiers that had eliminated a camp of Indians that could have possibly had Debby in it. So Ethan and Martin introduce themselves to the platoon and ask if they had seen any sign of a white girl who would have been help captive. The scene in Lord of the Rings is very similar in the aspect that Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are searching for the captive hobbits, Merry and Pipin. While tracking the orcs who have taken them captive Aragorn and comp. come across a group of riders who came from the direction the orcs had been heading. The riders had killed the orcs and were asked if they had seen the hobbits, who would only seem like children. The leader of the riders said they had not seen them, and warned them not to hope to find them since they left no survivors.