A Heavenly Delight
When it came to watching Heaven's Gate for the first time I knew
that I was going to have a number of preconceptions of the film, after all it's
very difficult not to for a film that is considered so notorious in the history
of American Cinema. A film responsible for the collapse of the legendary United
Artists film studio, being one of the instigators for the demise of the New
Hollywood movement of the 1970’s as helping to all but end the Hollywood movie
career of it’s young superstar director Michael Cimino, the result of all this leading
to the film being considered as one of the Worst ever to grace Hollywood’s
studio doors. Recently however, thanks in part to a recently restored directors
cut from Michael Cimino and it’s DVD re-release as part of Criterion’s culturally
significant films range the film has seen a renaissance in popularity,
particularly here in Europe where in some quarters it is regarded as something
of a wronged masterpiece, waiting for the redemption that it’s creator had
longed for during the past 34 years. Whilst it certainly is hard to ignore the
notoriety surrounding Heaven’s Gate, not only through it’s reputation within
Hollywood but also the myths surrounding Cimino’s behaviour and the reported
animal cruelty on-set, you find yourself being completely rewarded once you do
so, and when interpreting the film explicitly from a Mise-en-scene approach of
criticism you can yourself identify the reasons behind the film’s new-found
reclamation. It is certainly flawed in places, but the many positives as a film
in my eyes outweigh the negatives
For those who don’t know
the film’s plot revolves around US federal marshal James Averill (Kris
Kristofferson), who upon arriving in Johnson County, Wyoming learns of a
government sanctioned plot from the rich cattle ranchers of the region to
eliminate Eastern European immigrants whom the ranchers suspect of stealing
their cattle, a move which results in the full-scale bloody conflict which
serves as the film’s climax. During this time Averill falls for the local madam
Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert), involving himself in a three way love-triangle
completed by Christopher Walken’s sneering mercenary Nate Champion.
The key starting point to
come to when discussing Heaven's Gate
on its own merits as a picture is of course to focus on its cinematography. The
vistas of the Montana set glisten on set with a vivacity which is very
difficult to compare cinematically, and when added with Cimino’s tendencies to
elongate shots as long as possible it allows for the viewer to fully indulge
and embrace the imagery placed in front of him, similarly the attention to
detail that Cimino places into each shot of the film helps to give the film
such an authenticity that at times you do get so caught up in the environment
and feel transported to the 1890's of Johnson County, Wyoming. Of course in
this regard the acclaimed cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond must be given kudos
for crafting this imagery, but Cimino’s background as a graphic designer also
shines through in his ability to understand the importance of visual imagery
and the best way to exploit that on a cinema screen, and in this regard he in
my opinion achieved his pinnacle with this film visually.
This added benefit of the
environment and cinematography of the film is that it also helps you to become
more engaged and involved with the main plot of the film, and more importantly
the critiques and symbolism that the film represented. This is a rather blunt
and honest look at American immigration and corruption of the American Dream,
and with grievances in regards to immigration still being felt today it strikes
an even more passionate chord with the viewer in a way which arguably failed to
do so back upon its original 1980 release.
This added benefit of the
environment and cinematography of the film is that it also helps you to become
more engaged and involved with the main plot of the film, and more importantly
the critiques and symbolism that the film represented. This is a rather blunt
and honest look at American immigration and corruption of the American Dream,
and with grievances in regards to immigration still being felt today it strikes
an even more passionate chord with the viewer in a way which arguably failed to
do so back upon its original 1980 release. It also helps us to understand the
reasons for why the film has proven to be so popular with modern audiences when
compared to their counterparts of 30 years ago, where back in 1980 the ideals
of the American Dream were still rife and any criticism of those ideals
especially from one of their own was considered as sacrilege the modern day
filmgoer is a lot more cynical and world weary to that vision, one who
understands a lot of the criticisms that Cimino was identifying through his
work. Along with this the filmgoer of the modern era is also a lot more
tolerable of the film style of Heaven’s Gate in a way that the viewer of 1980
may not have been; films have gotten longer and the modern day viewer is
engulfed with television programmes sacrificing the quick fix in exchange for
complex story arcs and atmospheric and slow builds, no different to that which
Cimino used within Heaven’s Gate. You
could even go as far to say that through Heaven’s
Gate Cimino inadvertently created the first HBO mini-series.
Inevitably however when
speaking about Heaven's Gate we must also address the flaws of the film, and
unfortunately there are many. Much has been said and written about of the
behaviour of Michael Cimino during the making of Heaven's Gate, a man who just weeks after his victory in the
Academy Awards for The Deer Hunter
was fuelled with ego and self-importance, and this does shine through
throughout the film. The obvious indicator of this is in the length of the film,
at 3 hours and 40 minutes long making your way through the film is a major
struggle, a rewarding one mind you but still one which requires a lot of hard
work as a viewer. On top of this we also had Cimino's obsession with elongating
scenes to a disorientating level, one which as mentioned works well in regards
to cinematography but fails to allow the film to gain any sort of flow and
drama, something criminal in something as traditionally action-packed as the
Hollywood Western, this may have been justified had the scenes in question
proven relevant to the main plot of the film, but more often then not they are
used in filler scenes obviously impressive to look at but pointless in the
grand scheme of the picture, the Harvard Graduation scene is a perfect example
of this, both in the form of a four minute waltz but also in a typically rambunctious speech
by John Hurt’s character Irvine, whilst some may argue that it helps to
disassociate Averill’s attitude of justice with the exuberance of his peers it
is still in the context of the film an unnecessary scene devoted to a character
which ultimately proves unimportant. The problem with this however is that the
inclusion of these scenes helps to create an atmosphere and aura about the film
that makes it so compelling, especially for a director as visually motivated as
what Cimino was. As a result you are left feeling that whilst you would like
some scenes to be cut from the film you know that doing so would help to hinder
its atmosphere and distort the vision of Cimino’s work,which was proven to be
the case with the re-cut 2 hour version released to audiences in a desperate
attempt by Cimino and United Artists to make the film somewhat of a success.
Similarly the casting of
the film also proves to be much of a mixed bag, leaning on the positive side,
Kris Kristofferson and Isabelle Huppert are solid, if unspectacular in their
leading roles as James Averill and Ella Watson respectively, and I never felt
as involved in the relationship between the two as I maybe should have been,
away from them however the supporting cast prove to be a delight, Jeff Bridges
is as ever great as an immigrant turned self-made entrepreneur, Christopher
Walken's Nate Champion sneers with an engaging menace whilst Sam Waterston's
Frank Canton manages to finely walk the tightrope between being brilliantly
sinister and crossing over into mustache twirling pantomime villain.
Heaven's Gate will
continue to divide viewers of cinema for years to come, simply due the baggage
that comes with the film, but when judged on it's own merits my opinion is that
in spite of it's flaws this is an engaging beautiful piece of art that needs to
be experienced and I feel should be rediscovered for a new generation.
