The amount of influence 1968's "The Great Silence" has had over future entries in the Western genre is a bit surprising considering how few people have heard of it. When it came out, it completely redefined Western movies, replacing the genre's usual hair-raising adventures with a somber, oppressive atmosphere as the backdrop for a dark operatic drama. Any Western entertainment property you've seen come out in the last four decades was more than likely influenced by this film, despite the fact that it wasn't even given an American release until 2001. However, just because something has had influence doesn't mean it holds up. "Avatar" was heavily influential and that holds up about as well as a tower made out of rotten cheese. Let's hope "The Great Silence" does a little better than that.
The plot mostly centers around a group of bandits hiding out in the snowy mountains of 1898 Utah. However, rather than focusing on them, it tells the stories of the people around them. A group of ruthless bounty hunters led by Loco (Klaus Kinski) is searching for them. A lone sheriff is hoping to drive them out peacefully (Frank Wolff). And a mute gunslinger called Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is hunting down one of their killers for a young widow.
What stands out about "The Great Silence" is the setting. It's not often you see a Western set anywhere other than the desert. Seeing cowboys in a frozen environment creates a unique atmosphere, seeing these visuals usually associated with adventure and fun set in a dour, cold landscape.
The score is provided by Ennio Morricone, the veritable king of music in Western cinema. Compared to his previous and future Western work, Morricone was given a unique challenge by "The Great Silence," whose understated storytelling is in direct contrast to the epic scale of most other Western entries. Because of this, the score draws less attention to itself, sounding more like the score of a horror film than a typical Western. It's tense and tragic, which has the effect of somehow making you apprehensive and sadly relaxed at the same time.
The acting from everyone is top notch, especially from Trintignant, whose facial expressions and physical acting help portray the sorrow and tragedy of the character without saying a word. It's even more impressive that he's able to work off the other actors since Trintignant didn't speak a word of English at the time of filming. The other actors are great as well, with Kinski handing in an engagingly slimy performance.
This is the first time on (Re)visiting A Classic where the technical aspects of a film have been marred by generational difference. Director Sergio Corbucci's love of sudden zoom-ins tends to clash with the tragic tone because it causes me to break out in laughter. The crash zoom has been a popular subject of homage and parody in the past few years, robbing it of any legitimate place in modern cinema. To see them used so unironically in "The Great Silence" is a bit jarring and kind of silly.
The other generational problem is the message. While it contemplates interesting ideas like the difference between justice from the law and justice from those outside it, the film is supposed to be an allegory for the deaths of Che Guevara and Malcolm X. I guess I can see that now; the bounty hunters, being the villains, are on the side of the law while Silence, the hero, is the outlaw fighting for others. However, the issue is that I had to look this up rather than being able to spot the allegory immediately as somebody older assumingely would. Being disconnected from the immediacy and direct influence of such figures makes it difficult to detect.
Whether or not you'll catch this allegory also depends on how you view the political figures it alludes to. Corbucci was a communist and therefore would be incredibly sympathetic to the mission of Che Guevara. It makes sense, then, that a movie acting as an allegory for his death would paint Guevara as a tragic hero. Likewise, anybody who shares this image of Guevara is likely to connect the political storytelling. However, if you have a more negative view of Guevara, one that says he was not deserving of his heroic legacy, then it might be more difficult to discern. The somber and courageous Silence has very little to do with your less flattering image of Guevara.
"The Great Silence" is one of those movies that's good, but difficult to recommend. The acting is good, the atmosphere is solid, and the score is great, but all of these elements serve to make a slow-paced tragedy rather than a guns-and-horses Western adventure. It's in the same boat as its spiritual successor "Unforgiven," a great movie that the average person wouldn't actively want to see. If you've been foaming for a genuine Western experience, however, it doesn't get more legitimate than this.