090 REVIEWt’s hard to know where to start with this deeply distressing 1987 film
which seems to aggressively test the pliancy of the term “documentary”.
The parameters are initially set as piece of ultra-subjecttive investigative
journalism, in which director Kazuo Hara (little-known in the West,
but a maker of many extraordinary and radical films) follows activist
and outspoken World War Two veteran Kenzo Okuzaki. Like most men
involved in overseas conflict, Okuzaki had seen some dark shit, and Hara’s
camera becomes an access-all-areas pass ( both physical and moral) for this
increasingly cantankerous guy to dredge up some extremely unsavoury
business that went down in a Japanese garrison in New Guinea.
Where most conservative journalists will employ a carefully
mounted rhetorical ambush to tease information from their subjects,
Okuzaki often resorts to the rough stuff, abusing and man-handling his
cowering ex-colleagues in order to get them to spill the rotten beans. All
the while, Hara himself adopts a non-interventionist stance, allowing his
screw-loose guide to just have at it. If you’re interested in the ethics of
documentary filmmaking and how, sometimes, cool objectivity doesn’t
always cut the mustard when it comes to hard fact finding, then this makes
for essential viewing. Yet as a piece of storytelling, it goes to places that
most documentaries don’t even know exist. The slow, detailed first hour
gives way to increasingly morbid revelations about life-or-death decisions
that the various survivors have tried their utmost to suppress over the
intervening years. And just when you think your jaw couldn’t drop any
further, something else happens which is even more insane and even more
dubious. One final, shocking twist proves that Okuzaki’s methods were
definitely not just a blustering performance for the camera. DAVID JENKINSnthony Mann was already a great director, and James Stewart was
already an established star actor, when the two made Winchester
‘73 in 1950, kicking off a collaboration that would see them make eight
pictures, five of which were westerns, two of which were non-westerns
that were still pretty good, and one of which was the story of Glenn Miller.
The Far Country was made towards the end of that run; it’s the least of their
westerns and, serendipitously, it preceded their greatest, The Man from
Laramie. With a story and script by Borden Chase, The Far Country is a
little clouded over by a nagging sense of once-more-around-the-block, or,
dare I say it, a touch of Mann...ui. (Factually, it’s Borden Boredom.) From
the opening minutes, its strategy and imagery feels a little recycled and a
little presumptuous, lacking the sting and surprise of the previous year’s
piss-and-vinegar, Technicolor noir-western, The Naked Spur.
The tale pits Stewart against vindictive, self-appointed Judge Gannon
(John McIntire, whose roles often called for an unsettling mosaic of
down-home aw-shucks-ness and pure avarice) in a bitter rivalry that
would see them tangle several times over as many seasons, and for many
miles across the Yukon Territory. Despite its also-ran status, The Far
Country ultimately pulls together as a cohesive, distinctively Mann-ian
psychological western. Where its confidence and moderation of tone
falters, it’s done a good turn with expertly composed images by William
H Daniels, and the daunting, asteroidal contours of its Yukon backdrop.
And, this being an Anthony Mann picture, the lines of fate converge on
excruciating pain points, distributed evenly, and making them all, hero or
villain, rich or poor, more or less equal under an uncaring, overcast sky.
JAIME CHRISTLEYThe Far Country
The Emperor’s Naked Army
Marches On
Directed by 1987
KAZUO HARAReleased 11 NOVBlu-rayIA
Directed by
ANTHONY MANNStarring
JAMES STEWART
RUTH ROMAN
WALTER BRENNANReleased 11 NOVBlu-ray1954