The Last of the Mohicans

I've been wanting to give The Last of the Mohicans another viewing for some time now. It's been many years since I last saw it, but now that I've become such a strong Michael Mann fan, I wanted to see The Last of the Mohicans again—just to see it from the perspective of it being a Michael Mann movie . . . which I knew going into it would be a tall order, especially when considering Mann's more landmark films like The Insider, Ali, Miami Vice, Manhunter, or even his epic crime masterpiece Heat. Suffice it to say, with a résumé like that, one would think a film like The Last of the Mohicans to be quite a departure for a director like Mann—which is why I wanted to see it again.

I first saw this film when I was 14 years old, when it came to the theaters in 1992. My father grew up on the books of James Fenimore Cooper, which always featured the hero Hawkeye, so naturally he was very excited about a theatrical release of one of his favorite stories. Taking place on the New York frontier during the French and Indian War, Daniel Day-Lewis stars as the hero Hawkeye (aka Nathaniel), a white man raised among the Mohican tribe . . . and who knows tribal life and tradition far more than the colonials who have come to this new land. The film opens with a rather exciting hunt, where he and his Mohican friend Uncas, along with his father Chingachgook, are chasing deer throughout the dense New York woods. From here we move onto general colonial life among the settlers, which sadly is interrupted by the French army as they march towards Albany and Fort William Henry.

Enter into the picture Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington) of the British army, who's tasked with escorting the two daughters of Colonel Munro, Cora (Madeleine Stowe) and Alice (Jodhi May), to Fort William Henry. Leading them on their journey through the woods is Magua (Wes Studi), an aging Huron warrior who has greater loyalties to the French than to the English . . . and who has a deadly eye on Colonel Munro specifically. Hawkeye doesn't come into the picture until Magua stages his first attack on the British army during their journey to the fort. Hawkeye, Chingachgook, and Uncas were trailing Magua's Huron war party, and the trio jumped in to save the day for Duncan, Cora, and Alice. From there, Hawkeye and his crew escort Duncan and his crew to the fort, where tensions have mounted not only between the British and the French but also between Hawkeye and Duncan . . . as both men start to set eyes (and hearts) on Cora.

In a sense, The Last of the Mohicans is a colonial, frontier romance—and when remembering that Michael Mann helmed this picture, I have to admit, it still seems out of the box for him. But that's not to say that some of his trademark elements don't show up! Towards the end, there's a scene when Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook are trailing Magua, Cora, and Alice up over a mountain, and the Clannad song "I Will Find You" plays overtop the scene. Ranking right up there with the "In the Air Tonight" scene from Miami Vice, or the motorcade scene from The Insider where Gustavo Santaolalla's foreboding guitar music overshadows Russell Crowe's journey, it's pure Michael Mann magic (though I've heard rumors that this scene has actually been removed from the DVD). And the massive ambush on Munro's army by Magua and the Huron, after they've surrendered Fort William Henry, strongly foreshadows the legendary firefight from Heat only three years later.

But what also makes it a Michael Mann film is the stunning visuals. The colonial landscape literally takes your breath away, whether it be in the murky darkness of the forest during the film's opening hunt, the captivating flow of the streams as Hawkeye leads Duncan, Cora, and Alice to Fort William Henry, or the stunning beauty of the mountains during Chingachgook's closing monologue. There was no shortage of good battle scenes, either (as I alluded to earlier), though they struck me as more standard-fare action sequences rather than unique Michael Mann action sequences (think of the street fight in Heat or the lightning-fast action scenes from Miami Vice). Though there were several moments of Mann's trademark realism—like the scalping of a British soldier during Magua's first attack on Cora and Alice, or when Magua cuts out Munro's heart after he surrenders Fort William Henry.

And in a historical sense, I must admit, Mann captured the times very well. I thought Duncan perfectly portrayed the arrogance and condescension of the British army towards the settlers when he poses the question to General Webb, "I thought British policy was 'Make the world England', sir." Though having read the original book, I can also say that a great many liberties were taken with the adaptation.

In 1992, The Last of the Mohicans won an Oscar for Best Sound, though I think it should have received two other Oscar nominations as well: Best Original Score, and Best Supporting Actor. I single out the score because the soundtrack by Randy Edelman and Trevor Jones is nothing short of mesmerizing. It captures the lay of the land, the sense of time, and every mood so perfectly, and every person I know who has seen The Last of the Mohicans has commented on how memorable the soundtrack is. As for a possible Supporting Actor nomination, I call out Wes Studi here, for his performance as Magua was intense, hard-bitten, and overpowering. His hatred for Munro was seething, his manipulation so cunning, and his presence on screen often overpowering. This kind of performance is always Oscar-worthy, and I find it disappointing that he wasn't recognized by the Academy for his performance as Magua.

As to the other cast members, Daniel Day-Lewis was quite effective as Hawkeye. Some might deem his "fearless warrior" portrayal cliché, but having read the James Fenimore Cooper book already, I can honestly state that that was precisely how his character was drawn, and Daniel Day-Lewis embodies the classical hero figure very well here. Madeleine Stowe offered a good turn as Cora, though I felt that the characters of Uncas and Alice were rather underdeveloped. Supposedly they were to have something of a romance, too, but it never really showed up clearly on screen, given that neither character had a lot of screen time.

If you're a Michael Mann fan like me, there are lots of points to consider when viewing a film like The Last of the Mohicans. Sometimes I wonder if it would have benefited from extra footage (or at least a better cut than what's currently on the DVD, because apparently certain theatrical scenes were replaced). There's rumored to have once been a 3-hour cut of the movie, which would have been more in keeping with Mann's films, but the feel of the current film feels somewhat pared down, with less time for real serious character development all around, rather than just the leads. That being said, though, I still give The Last of the Mohicans a 7.5, and recommend it for Mann fans who want to see his hand at another genre.