Entertaining Film About Colonial Arrogance

Rating: Null/10 (11 October 2002)

The Man Who Would be King is a film about colonialism. It illustrates the notion that the arrogance of the West leads to a dangerous sense of empowerment.
There is much to admire in The Man Who Would be King. Huston's direction and the work of his cinematographer is breath taking. The pace and premise of the film are superbly crafted, and the camaraderie and timing displayed by Sean Connery and Michael Caine are the centerpiece of the film.

You realize that these two work extremely well together, at least on film, (lord knows how well these two got along off camera). It makes you wonder why they did not work together more often after this.
The film also takes a stab at the 'old boys' networks, the fact that men will claim loyalty to vague and distant ideals, tribes and clubs for no reason and at great expense. It wonderfully ties the notion these networks pre-date our civilization, even pre-date Christ and yet they continue to exert tremendous influence over us.
Is a warring tribe any different than a warring nation? Is a Free Mason any different than a colonial soldier, or a high priest dedicated to some temple on a mountain? Our belief systems are forged with two notions, inclusion and exclusion. If you are 'in' you benefit from the club's power, if you are 'out', you feel that tribe's wrath.
Every loyalty that is forged in this film is exposed for its hypocrisy and the lies underneath that fuel it. There is only one loyalty that seems to be genuine in this film and that is the friendship between Caine and Connery. Everything else is a rouse, to gain power and to condone war.
If the film falls short, it's in the portrayal of the natives as utter barbarians with no redeeming values. Now to be fair, the country they portray is fictitious and the contrast is there for comedic value, but just consider the film opens in India, and rather than show the Taj Mahal or the beautiful music and art of India, it goes into a large montage of scorpion eaters and snake snatchers.
We're lead to believe, that England had no right to lead a barbaric culture, no matter how much 'good' that leadership might have brought. The reasoning behind this film's morale is that England's perceived superiority is a lie, and is in fact, based on the same tribal fears and prejudices as the people England are colonizing.
The story has strange holes and some laughably implausible incidents to keep the story going. There are moments that make you wince, Saeef Jaffrey's character who seems the most grounded of all, suddenly snaps to his death, for no particular reason other than to rid him from the story line. There are also candid moments, like when Connery begins to question the incredible happenstance that has taken place, and questions that perhaps life is destiny rather than series of meaningless and random events.

Of course, the ending of the film, refutes destiny, it in fact implies we yearn to craft destiny out of meaningless coincidence just because our superstitions and our tribe affiliations yearn for meaning.
In reality, this is more of a comedy than a drama, the film works best when it doesn't take itself too seriously. With a destitute Caine returning to India to tell his tale and morale, that no man should play god', the shock value of the final minute of the film, doesn't quite register, because for the most part, we've just been chuckling along.
Despite my nit-picking, this is a fine film, crafted from great text, shot wonderfully in breath taking locales, with a superb pace and rapport amongst its central characters. You get pieces of adventure, drama, comedy and a nice little morale in the end, to make you think. What more can you ask for?