Cox’s astonishing genre-bending masterpiece satirically and anachronistically lays bare the dark shadow of American imperialism across time, shot in Nicaragua during the Contra War, and featuring Ed Harris as 19th-century mercenary leader William Walker.
Review #3,023
Dir. Alex Cox
1987 | USA, Nicaragua | Drama, Biography, History | 94min | 1.85:1 | English & Spanish
M18 (passed clean) for sexual scene and war violence
Cast: Ed Harris, Richard Masur, Rene Auberjonois, Keith Szarabajka, Sy Richardson
Plot: William Walker and his mercenary corps enter Nicaragua in the middle of the 19th century in order to install a new government by a coup d’état.
Awards: Nom. for Golden Bear (Berlinale)
Distributor: Universal
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Moderate – Manifest Destiny; American Imperialism; Dictatorship; William Walker
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Normal
Audience Type: Slightly Mainstream
Viewed: Criterion Blu-ray
Spoilers: No
As far as political films masquerading as Hollywood entertainment are concerned, Walker could be one of the most astonishing pictures ever made.
It is impossible to imagine that it was bankrolled by Universal, though it is far easier to believe that British director Alex Cox was tossed out by the Hollywood system due to it, after a string of hits that include cult classic Repo Man (1984) and Sid & Nancy (1986).
Well, Walker is for me one of the most sparkling discoveries for some time, a powerful jolt in the arm for the occasionally jaded cineaste that I am. It’s an extraordinary work, a masterpiece I’d say, even as that word gets bandied about way too often. There are so many things to say, but I’ll keep it to three points.
Firstly, this is a layered film about the dark shadow of American imperialism across time as it centres on the story of 19th-century William Walker, a mercenary leader who at one point in his short life of 36 years, became the President (a.k.a. dictator) of Nicaragua.
As the titular figure, played ably by a somewhat deranged Ed Harris, becomes gripped by the prospect of absolute power, we begin to see why when American leaders claim to liberate other countries from oppression, and in the name of introducing freedom, democracy and human rights, what they mean is simply the opposite—brutal exploitation and unrelentless control.
“One must act with severity, or perish.”
Cox’s work lays bare in the most satirical manner the horrors of Manifest Destiny, amplified by the Peckinpah-style slow-mo bloody violence, and contextualised heartrendingly in the end credits.
Secondly, Cox plays with anachronism so nonchalantly e.g. insertions of shots of Time and Newsweek magazines, the modern combat helicopter, etc., that he makes blunt allusions to America’s ill-fated involvement in the Vietnam War, and the controversy of the US-backed Contra War during what was then the present-day Reagan era.
In fact, it is mind-blowing to learn that Cox shot much of Walker not on a sound stage but in Nicaragua itself, with the support of the anti-Contras’ Sandinista National Liberation Front.
Lastly, I wanted to note Cox’s brilliant decision to mash an array of genres together in some kind of bewitching concoction that revises the codes of not just the satire, but also the Western, adventure movie, war film, and even comedy. Joe Strummer’s fascinating rhythmic music, accompanied by strains of the Spanish guitar, creates an otherworldly, surreal feeling.
Walker was a detestably larger-than-life figure in Nicaraguan history, and with the film running just a little over 90 minutes, the director seems to cheekily suggest that the traditional lengthy biopic—the kind that Hollywood used to like—is all but dead and buried.
Grade: A+
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 