The Last of the Mohicans is a musket and hatchet, arrow-packed love story set in British-controlled America.
Nathaniel (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a frontiersman whose main loyalty is to his adopted Mohawk tribe. But when he falls in love with an aristocratic woman named Cora (Madeleine Stowe), he’s drawn into a war between the French and the English.
Nathaniel, his Mohawk brother and his father Chingachgook (Russell Means) are only interested in protecting fellow settlers and living as free from government control as they can. In contrast, Magua (Wes Studi) from the Huron tribe seeks to avenge his dead family by killing British Colonel Monro and his daughters Cora and Alice (Jodhi May). The plot is driven forward by Magua’s blood lust, Nathaniel and Cora’s love, and war between two governments.
When the SQ Reviews members sat down to discuss the film, it became clear that none of us liked the choice of the actor as the central character of the movie. Though the movie never portrays Nathaniel as a native-born Mohican, the fact that he is the protagonist in a movie about the last members of a Native American tribe proved problematic for many.
Juan Meza, who is of Apache descent, compared The Last of the Mohicans to Dances with Wolves, and said the problem with The Last of the Mohicans is that the movie reverses the classic roles of the hero and the victim.
“Its the Dances with Wolves effect,” Aaron Taylor says, and a new term is born. Everyone chuckles, then Taylor continues. “I loved the movie with the exception of choosing Day-Lewis as the hero. I loved it for the action scenes, historical context. I loved Magua. He had some of the best lines in the movie about destroying a race of people — he reminded me of General Zod in Man of Steel.”
“Sounds like someone needs some Restorative Justice,” Emile DeWeaver says, referring to the need for forgiveness and reconciliation between conflicting cultural groups.
“What about Magua?” Rahsaan Thomas asks. “Was he an example of becoming what you hate? He went on the war path killing women and children because his kids were killed and wife taken.”
“He did nothing wrong,” Meza insists, rocking forward in his seat. “He was a hero. He was out to destroy everything that didn’t belong there.”
“Why was it okay for Magua to decide what belonged there, but we condemn the British government for deciding what did and didn’t belong in America?” DeWeaver asks. He likes to play Devil’s advocate.
What if somebody broke into your house?” Meza asks. “What would you do to protect your family?”
“Magua’s family was dead,” DeWeaver says. “Revenge was no nobler than the English deciding that they would make the world England for its own good. Don’t get me wrong, Native Americans had the moral high ground. But framing the issue around who is right or wrong is the problem. It’s this dichotomy of us versus them.”
Overall, we rated the movie an average of 2 out of 5 dinner cookies.
Contributors: Rahsaan Thomas, Emile DeWeaver, Aaron Taylor, Juan Meza