PEORIA, IL -- The film The Lone Ranger has been widely condemned as one of the worst movies of 2013, or of all time. But I had a friend who liked it, so Netflix sent it quickly to my mailbox for viewing.
The critics who hate this movie are nuts! It's one of the best films of 2013, wildly creative and imaginative, but with a seldom-used genre that critics without a literary education may not understand.
This is not a children's film, or even one for the masses. It's not like Superman or Batman. Instead it's an expensively produced art film for a high end audience.
It reaches into now obscure traditions of the grotesque and burlesque, and is a fantasy with a leftist political twist.
The villains are greedy corporate magnates, who ironically also bring 'progress' for the white settlers with the help of corrupt outlaws.
The heros are the native Americans who proclaim themselves, rightly, as 'ghosts,' and a naive lawyer (everyman?) who believes in justice and learns it seldom takes place without extreme violence to make it happen. He becomes the lone ranger.
The truth teller is Tonto, a weird outlier from his tribe.
If this story is not the way most people learn and understand American history, that's also the point.
The grotesque is mixed with occasional humor -- a violation of tone that makes the film even more interesting, as it violently violates audience expectations, based on the old TV series, kid books and comic books. It's nothing like The Lone Ranger of the past.
The high production values mean fabulous music, georgeous landscapes, incredible stunts and computer-generated violence that's also artful and sometimes comic. Weird but creative.
This film deserves a comparison with the highly praised Life of Pi, in which a teenager survives an incredible ocean journey in a lifeboat with a tiger. It's gripping, beautifully photographed, and also a fantasy.
Both films rely on stories told to others to tell their fantasy tales -- which anchors the films in the reality and truth that fiction tells.
One has been highly praised, the other condemned -- maybe because it's too creative, and too profoundly political for lapdog critics who lack a literary education which would enable them to understand it. That's a shame. Don't miss seeing it.
-- Elaine Hopkins
Comments