Download Free Seraphim Falls

Written by Abby Everett Jaques and David Von Ancken and directed by Von
Ancken, "Seraphim Falls" is a rough, tough, old-fashioned western set
on the dusty plains and snow-covered mountains of western Nevada. The
plot is little more than a straightforward revenge tale involving Liam
Neeson (sans Southern accent) as a sadistic Rebel army colonel who
hires a posse to track down the marauding Union officer he believes
slaughtered his family in the days following the Civil War. The
officer, played with steely-eyed determination by Pierce Brosnan, is a
savvy, quick-on-the-draw survivalist who, through sheer ingenuity and
skill, stymies and outwits the colonel and his men at every turn.

What "Seraphim Falls" lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in
grit and style. For even though there isn't a great deal of depth to
the characters, there's much pleasure to be derived from merely
watching two actors of the caliber of Neeson and Brosnan squaring off
in a grueling game of cat-and-mouse played out in a punishing,
unforgiving landscape. Brosnan's character achieves an almost
Superman-like quality as he stays one step ahead of his pursuers,
devising ever-more elaborate means of ensnaring them in his traps. The
movie takes a decidedly metaphysical turn in its closing stretches,
with the divine Anjelica Huston, no less, appearing out of nowhere as a
desert apparition to set the boys straight on a few eternal verities
like redemption and forgiveness. But it is as a simple tale of
vengeance and obsession that "Seraphim Falls" most captures our
imagination and interest..

What I know about the Western genre is actually rather embarrassing in
the sense that it isn't much. I've seen The Magnificent Seven and
enjoyed it but these deeper, more 'spaghetti' Westerns have so far
eluded me. But the idea behind Seraphim Falls, I can image, sort of
falls half way between a traditional Spaghetti Western in the sense it
takes place in a vast and open world in which different, shady
characters get involved with one another and it's hard to tell apart a
good guy to a bad guy and a more artistic, slower film that utilises a
simple concept of chase but puts its characters in a location in which
there are many places to run but few to hide.

Make no mistake, I am impressed with director Von Ancken's ability to
come up with a basic story but transform it from script to screen;
often the best stories that are going to be told with an artistic
approach are the most simplistic ones. Von Ancken places his characters
in a world where you are never sure who is good and who is evil or
whether either of them are good or evil at all, echoing the Spaghetti
tradition. He also creates a world in which snow and ice can quickly
change to sand and dust but this is not a criticism merely for the
reason there is enough in this film to suggest Von Ancken is trying to
create an art film; nobody complains when, during the final sword fight
in House of Flying Daggers, the weather changes from clear to snow in a
matter of minutes.

Character is also an important part of Von Ancken's vision here. It is
true to say that the only real characters in this film are the two
leads; Carver (Neeson) and Gideon (Brosnan) with the rest being
relegated to names and faces of people who are either: a; in Carver's
gang and represent a sort of sacrifice if the audience get a little
bloodthirsty, b; passers by of Gideon's journey who might also act as
ammunition for the bloodthirsty audience or c; nameless and faceless
people there to stall Gideon as he gets lost in a sea of people (the
railroad construction is this segment). A further lack of concentration
on character is in the form of Madame Lousie (Huston) who shows up
nearer the end playing a sort of witch-come-figment of the imagination
type, but incorporating characters into an 'art' film needs to be done
a little more carefully than this, in my opinion.

But the characterisation of those presented well enough is interesting.
I enjoyed the way the film immediately throws us into the situation of
Gideon on the run from a gang of people, maybe forcing us to side with
him since it is he who is the defenceless and hunted. Gideon himself
represents a sort of 'Ronin' figure, a masterless warrior who is highly
skilled but with no boss – also notice how his weapon of choice is a
knife with which he is highly skilled. It is from here that when we are
shown the flashback as to how the situation came about that we then
question our own allegiances; what happened was terrible but do we
dislike Carver any less now what's what has been revealed?

But criticisms with the way the narrative is constructed cannot go
unnoticed or unsaid; what is effectively a simple flashback is actually
the opening twenty five minutes of the film merely shifted to the
eightieth minute mark – and for what, to stick out I suppose although
it does render our opinions on said characters ambiguous until the
flashback occurs which is smart film-making since I cannot imagine the
pain that real people might have felt had the events in the flashback
actually happened to them. But Seraphim Falls remains a classy Western
that relies on its cause and effect approach rather well; there is
always a danger that the events become more and more ludicrous as the
film tightens its grip but encountering bank robbers; getting caught by
railroad security guards and having to escape again make for good and
clever viewing.

I would say that the film does not get its utilisation of spaces
correct. The film in the early part jumps from day to night in a rather
sloppy fashion; Gideon gets sanctuary in a wood cabin despite evading
his chasers on foot with them having horses and still being unable to
catch up with him and the cabin (at least until the next day). But this
use of space haunts Seraphim Falls nearer the end when the ambiguous
character of Madam Louise shows up; covering great distance in a short
amount of time – perhaps she is both men's subconscious, giving them a
timely booster as they struggle in the climate but her interaction with
all things physically extinguishes most theory that she might be. For a
film that relies on heavily on location and cinematography, it is
remarkably lacking in long shots displaying the surroundings but when
the characters are amongst snow and ice, the film feels cold; when they
are parched amongst heat and sand, the film feels heavy and hot which
is an achievement. The climax may be anti of sorts and the payoff
non-existent but in other ways, it's satisfying in an 'understanding'
sort of way – it will not go down as a great of the genre but it is a
classy exercise in chase, cinematography, atmosphere and mild
entertainment..