An awesome combination of adventure, comedy, and Shakespearean tragedy

Rating: 10/10 (30 May 2006)

This movie is loosely based on the Kipling short story by the same title, but for once the adaptation is a big improvement. In the short story, there is much less character development, and the Daniel character is allowed to dominate; in the movie, the two main characters get a fairly balanced exposure.
The result is one of the great adventure stories, and at the same time a great Shakespearean tragedy. In this respect, it can be compared to that other Huston masterpiece: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Yet, even this high praise does not do full justice to the movie, because I have not yet mentioned the scenery, the music, and, most important, the two unforgettable main characters. Daniel and Peachy are crooks and megalomaniacs, but, on the whole, it is hard not to sympathize with them: because it's only a movie, of course, but also because of their quiet self-confidence and dry sense of humor; because they do not lose dignity in failure; and because, for all their flaws, one can sense that they have lived interesting lives, and wishes to hear them tell their stories.
Sometimes Daniel and Peachy treat the natives pretty shabbily, but only on one occasion I thought that they would behave differently to a white man. This occasion, unfortunately, is at the very beginning of the movie, in the train scene. You should not let this scene alienate you from the Peachy character, because you won't see him behave like that again.
There are a few remarks that might offend the overly sensitive, such as: "(we are) not gods, but Englishmen, which is the next best thing!". (Incidentally, this might have been inspired by Cecil Rhodes.) But this remark should be seen in its context. It is pretty clear that Daniel and Peachy believe themselves to be close to gods, not because they are British, but because they are Daniel and Peachy. They are quite happy to make fun of their fellow Britons and of the entire colonial enterprise: witness lines such as "It was detriment like us that built this bloody Empire!" or "We are going to teach you (...) to slaughter your enemies like civilized men."
From their talk to Kipling and to the District Commissioner, one gets pretty soon the picture of the individualistic, libertarian philosophy of Daniel and Peachy. Perhaps this is best encapsulated in their conversation when they are trapped at high altitude and expect to die from exposure. They consider whether their lives have been wasted, and decide that they would not go back even on the point of dying, if that means giving up on their memories. Without giving anything away, I can say that their best memories were yet to come.