Hostiles (2017) * * *

Directed by:  Scott Cooper

Starring:  Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Ben Foster, Timothee Chalamet, Jesse Plemons, Adam Beach, Rory Cochrane, Q'orianka Kilcher, Jonathan Majors

We first meet Captain Joseph Blocker (Bale) rounding up Native Americans in 1892 New Mexico and taking them prisoner.     His anger at them is palpable, because he is fought them in many battles and watched many soldiers die at their hands.   Isn't it a kick in the head that he would be assigned to accompany dying Chief Yellow Hawk (Studi) from New Mexico to Montana where he will die in peace and buried on sacred land?     Blocker opposes the order, but under threat of court martial and loss of Army pension, he reluctantly agrees to take Yellow Hawk to Montana.  

This is the setup for Hostiles, a contemplative, thoughtful Western in which modern day thoughts on Native American genocide are transposed onto 19th century characters.    Did some soldiers realize they were responsible for such atrocities and haunted by them?    I would assume so, but Hostiles has the benefit of hindsight and fiction on its side.    It makes for some powerful moments, but also follows some formulas of Westerns, in which characters died according to their position on the marquee.   

Blocker and his group shackle Yellow Hawk and his family in chains as they come across the widow Rosalie Quaid (Pike), whose home was burned and family killed at the hands of local Comanche aggressors.    They bury her family and she accompanies them on their journey.    She at first is horrified to see other Native Americans in the party, but she is soon reassured by Blocker and Yellow Hawk's daughter's kindness.    Blocker soon realizes the difference between men like Yellow Hawk fighting for his home and family and the Comanche warriors who savagely kill, loot, and pillage.    Maybe he even sees a little of himself in the Comanches and it terrifies him to his soul.   

Along the way, Blocker is ordered to accompany a former soldier (Foster) charged with murder to his destination to be eventually hung.    The soldier taunts Blocker about his own checkered past and finds it unjust that he be hung for murder while others go free.    At this point, Hostiles becomes a tad subplot-heavy, as we now have this guy to deal with on top of everything else, including a potential love story between Blocker and Rosalie.    Members of Blocker's regiment are slowly killed off during gunfights, knife fights, and other skirmishes, with Blocker undergoing his inevitable change of heart towards Yellow Hawk and his family.  

Hostiles runs somewhat long as it touches its bases to cover the subplots thrust upon it, but its central theme and rich, complex performances pull it through.     Blocker does not telegraph his change of heart through speeches or stirring emotional scenes, but through a look or a facial expression with suggest multitudes of inner conflict.    At the end, he is at peace, or as much as he can be and makes a spontaneous decision which we would never think he could make prior.    The Native American roles aren't weighted quite as heavily, but Studi is an impressive actor who imbues Yellow Hawk with deep reservoirs of courage and honor.   

Director Scott Cooper previously directed the unfortunate Out of the Furnace (2013), which also starred Bale and Black Mass (2015), the entertaining story of Whitey Bulger.    Both films, like Hostiles, take time to slow down and reflect on what's going on.    With Out of the Furnace, this happens so much it slows the movie to a halt, while Black Mass chooses its quiet times more carefully.     Hostiles isn't mindless violence, but instead a mirror for us to view ourselves and our history.     How can the people in Hostiles call the Native Americans savages when we are guilty of many of same crimes?    And we weren't protecting our land, but simply taking it from others.