The Immortalization of Jesse James by the Tragically Naive Robert Ford...

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2017)

There's always a temptation to get over-analytical with the revisionist Western sub-genre. These moody movies, like "Shane", "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" or "Unforgiven" paint a portrait of the Old West at the twilight of its existence. Whether from the perspectives of Natives and homesteaders who, realize the march of progress is a roller-coaster ignoring the values of individual lives or outlaws and marshals discovering that they belong to a dying breed of men, the Old West shrunk like a Balzac pebble-leather taking with it the frontier spirit.
The "end of an era" is the most prevalent element of modern Western and Andrew Dominik's "Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", a film served by impeccable acting and hypnotic cinematography by Roger Deakins. There's an obvious kinship between this title and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", we care less for the death, which awaits us all than the way fate lures the primarily concerned to the deadly encounter. And the Jesse James we see is played by a self-conscious but oddly poignant Brad Pitt, like a living ghost, a man floating above the darker shadows of fame with a magnetic aura. Ask anyone today about Jesse James, words 'outlaws', bank robberies will come to mind but also that nickname that earned his ticket to posterity: Robin Hood.
Yes, this is the Old West, quoting "Liberty Valance", "when legend becomes fact, print the legend". At the Civil War's aftermath, people could find excuses to criminals, and Jesse James was always seen as a man faithful to the Confederate flag and who robbed Yankees banks to repair injustices. This is certainly a shortcut from reality, he certainly killed more innocent men than Robert Ford, but James is a legend nonetheless. You can tell it from the morbid attraction his death gathered, the quasi-mystification of his life or any item he ever approached. You can just tell it by the number of movies or books made about him, while Robert Ford, will always be associated to the word 'Coward', Judas, backstabber. But no one would want such a reputation, and certainly not Ford who only wanted to join the gang, along with his brothers and has his share of James' fame.
Robert Ford is certainly one of the most fascinating cinematic characters of the last two decades; he was certainly overlooked because 2007 saw the more iconic and larger-than-life Anton Chigurh from "No Country for Old Men". But Ford embodies this puzzling correlation between death and admiration; one that caused John Lennon to be killed by a fan. Ford is a man who knows the times of Old West legends is coming to an end and wants to make a name out of his, believing he's "destined for great things". But this is a man who's not the tenth James is, he's awkward, effeminate, full of shy mannerisms that immediately betray a sneaky side of his personality. One minute with Frank James (Sam Shepard) and the old man draws his gun, telling him to get out because he "gives him the willies". But it seems like his brother Jesse is more tolerant.
Indeed, Jesse James gives Bob a chance and starts a weird relationship whose culmination is the titular assassination. Bardem won the Oscar for "No Country" but he played a villain, albeit not one-dimensional. Casey Affleck (who got many awards nods, including the Oscar) plays something that is lower than the concept of the villain but more spectacular in terms of acting, he's the wimp, the well-meaning but ultimately weak man whose personal hubris conducts him to kill people who actually appreciated him, he's Jerry Lundegaard in "Fargo" or Fredo Corleone and it takes some super acting to play these awkward and highly contemptible people. Affleck even adds a dimension of troll-faced, double-crossing youth that makes him even scarier.
The fact that at the end, we still feel sorry for him says a lot about the beauty of the film. We understand that he meant "well", he wanted to be a new Pat Garrett, yet he didn't understand his world. He didn't foresee that reenacting 800 times the assassination would only make him an even more detestable public figure while he could have left the killing a mystery. There was no witness besides his brother Charley (Sam Rockwell) Ford could have claimed it was self-defense, people would have suspected him, he might even have been killed anyway, but how could he ever believe that he would earn a heroic reputation by explicitly killing someone in the back and taking pride from it.
Ford became a living ghost in suspended sentence, waiting to be killed; his name would forever be associated with James, but not the way he intended. The film, while not forgiving the action of Ford, presents him like a tragic figure victim of unfortunate illusions. And I have a feeling that he was also victim of James, the film insists on showing James as a man of fading health, growing paranoia and irrational behavior, being chased by all the Marshalls of the country would drive anyone insane. Many times, James take someone for "a ride" and we understand it's the euphemism mobsters use for "take care", the plot isn't always clear but it efficiently highlights the mindsets that inhabits the two main characters, the cast does justice to the film, Jeremy Renner and Rockwell especially, but it's all between Pitt and Affleck.
And I had the feeling Pitt chose the suicidal angle, he who always rides behind a man, lowered his guard with Ford, gave him a gun, taunted him, threatened his brother as if he was really asking for his death, it's like a hypnotic macabre dance lead by James who knew the last step before immortality was a legendary murder. Ford served him that on a silver platter.
One could even ask who really 'assassinated' the other?