Pssst, want to check out Clearcut in our new look?
Information
- Year
- 1991
- Runtime
- 100 min.
- Director
- Ryszard Bugajski
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller, Western
- Rating *
- 7.0
- Votes *
- 390
- Checks
- 81
- Favs
- 5
- Dislikes
- 1
- Favs/checks
- 6.2% (1:16)
- Favs/dislikes
- 5:1
Top comments
-
Siskoid
In 1991, Graham Greene gets an Oscar nomination for supporting White Messiah Extraordinaire Kevin Costner in 1990's Dances with Wolves. Playing an unhinged Native Canadian who kidnaps and tortures (mostly psychologically) a couple of would-be White Messiahs in Clearcut that year seems like a weird - but appreciated! - revenge. I really like what this does for the subgenre. White audiences are programmed to side with the lawyer fighting for indigenous land rights against the cartoonish mill owner (Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan actually brings a fun, dark humor to what could have been a thankless role), and just as programmed to think of Greene's character as the villain. He's the neighbor or babysitter you shouldn't have pissed off in other thrillers. But it's all a big take-down of the White Messiah complex and the lawyer is entirely ineffectual and Greene is essentially exposing his liberal outrage as, not false exactly, I'm gonna use the word "professional". Does he care because he actually does, or is it just his job to care, and does he confuse the two? When push comes to shove (and it does), which culture is our lawyer going to respect? Flip it and make Greene's character the hero, without changing him in any way, and you'd think he was justified, but because the POV character is someone else, you're forced to ask more questions. This is more of a talking piece (especially the ending) than your casual thriller. Nothing is actually... clearcut. 1 year 7 months ago -
