After arriving at his new, remote Army outpost, Capt. John Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman who recounts a horrifying tale of a wagon train murdered by its supposed guide – a vicious U.S. Army colonel gone rogue. Fearing the worst, the regiment heads out into the wilderness to verify the gruesome claims.
Score
Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn's bonkers banjo-gothic masterpiece.
Acting
Robert Carlyle's feral, seductive, absolutely unhinged performance.
Direction
Antonia Bird's tonal whiplash between slapstick and genuine horror.
Director
Antonia Bird
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Original director Milcho Manchevski was fired three weeks in; Antonia Bird was hired literally overnight and had to shoot an ending she hated.
The Wendigo myth here functions as perfect metaphor for American expansionism—consume others to grow stronger, never stop hungering.
GB
