If there was one movie I was eagerly anticipating for 2024, it was the first chapter of "Horizon: An American Saga" by Kevin Costner. Now that I’ve finally seen it, albeit not in a theater, I’d like to share a few thoughts.
"Horizon" is Kevin Costner's life work, a vision he's been working on since 1988. The truth is, there couldn't have been a more fitting time for its realization, given that Hollywood is gradually beginning to re-examine the Western genre. This coincides with the music industry, which has increasingly leaned into country music as a mainstream focus.
As a child , my first encounter with Western media was, of course, the Lucky Luke comics. As for cinema, my introduction wasn't through the spaghetti Westerns of the '60s, Ennio Morricone, or Clint Eastwood. Those came later. Instead, if there was one Western that defined the '90s, it was Kevin Costner's "Dances With Wolves." For me, that film is the reference point for my love of the genre.
Costner had to decide how to approach his vision. Would he lean towards tradition or a neo-Western? Would he pay homage to the films that shaped him, or try to introduce this genre to a younger audience, as he did in the '90s? Ultimately, he chose something in between.
"Horizon" is a comprehensive narrative of a historical period in the United States marked by rapid, evolutionary leaps. It was a time when developments came like a storm, laying the foundations for the USA as we know it today. More than that, though, it isn’t a simple tale of cowboys and Indians, but a perceptive recounting of the endless cycle of violence initiated by colonialism against Native Americans. It contrasts the concept of homeland with the notion of ownership. And Costner is no stranger, neither to the colonial and Civil War history of America nor to the art of directing.
The film is distinctly cinematic. It is made for theaters, for the big screen. It is a true visual feast. The camera work is excellent, the landscapes otherworldly (after all, we’re talking about places like Wyoming and Kansas), and the soundtrack is beautiful yet subtle. It allows silence and pauses to set the tone. The weaving together of different stories with the common denominator of the Horizon is done skillfully, without dragging or becoming tedious. As the plot unfolds, the viewer begins to understand the purpose of each narrative.
This film is a vindication for Costner, but it’s understandable that it has polarized audiences. It’s introductory, it’s slow, it’s long, and most of all, it’s a Western. It's a genre that many people aren’t familiar with, and some who are, perceive it as a very specific thing. Here, Costner attempts a completely different narrative, not just for Westerns, but for mainstream American cinema in general. That’s why it was celebrated at European festivals, while the reception in the US was more lukewarm.
I believe the next three chapters of "Horizon" will vindicate him even further. A tetralogy of such magnitude needed a similarly grand introduction. The groundwork for the real story to unfold.
And so far, that groundwork has been fantastic.