Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Nicholas Cage, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Noah Le Gros, Philip Aguirre, Clint Howard, Katelyn Bauer, Abraham Benrubi, Nick Searcy, Dean Armstrong, Everett Blunck, Brett Donowho, Shiloh Fernandez, Corby Griesenbeck, Boyd Kestner, Kerry Knuppe, Adam Lazarre-White, Beau Linnell, Jeff Medley, Joe Pepper, Craig Bramham, Eddie Spears, Skyler Stone.
Seeking revenge for a perceived wrong in childhood is a powerful emotion that runs arguably deeper than that which inflicts itself on that of an older man or woman, both states of the human experience run true, both leave their mark on the psyche, but that which leaves its scars in youth is harder to supress and conceal than that which occurs in middle age.
The Old Way, that which haunted the American Mid-West, during the time of expansion in United States of America history is riddled with the deaths of those who sought revenge for the taking of a life without realising that their parents had committed severe wrongs against a set of townsfolk, had slaughtered in the name of theft, robbery, and violence that was all too common in the countries of Europe that the people had left behind, but which should have been removed from their souls in a country forged on new ideals.
Cinema is replete with such insight, but perhaps none as topically insightful as that which Brett Donowho brings to the audience’s attention in Carl W. Lucas’ The Old Way.
The Western genre has had to undergo severe, and rightful change in its order to survive, to become relevant once more, like The Blues in music, it was in danger of being an anachronism, unpalatable to the sensitivities and truths of the day, but as the 21st Century took hold, the genre has not only survived, but has flourished as television programmes such as Deadwood, the science fiction classic Westworld, and even in the realms of deep fantasy that of The Mandalorian, the need to reflect on a period of time in American history where land was stolen, where the message was crude and unsubtle, and the law only as dominant as those who could profit by its misuse, has seen the inevitable return and rise as progress.
The reason being is that the genre no longer thankfully and rightly relies on making the indigenous people the subject of false ire, the story of revenge being sought by the likes of those who furthered the case of on-screen racism, and instead looks and reflects to the damage sought from within the Caucasian soul by their own kind.
When a young boy witnesses the death of his father, despite the obvious guilt and crime he himself has committed, it sets out a chain of events in which the 16th century adage of “He who seeks revenge should dig two graves” is never truer.
It is perhaps to the surprise inclusion of Nicholas Cage, starring in his debut western, and playing off against Noah Le Gros, and with terrific support from Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Cage’s on-screen daughter Brooke Briggs, that the film carries as much weight and sentiment as it does.
A film taken with an honest appraisal of the nature of revenge, The Old Way is insightful and shot with depth and understanding.
Ian D. Hall