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Geronimo By Walter Hill: Film Analysis

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A nation formed from the blood of an entire culture. The Revisionist Western Film, Geronimo, (1993) by director Walter Hill, sheds light on various events leading up to the migration of Whites to the Midwest, and the conflicts that ensued between the Apaches and the migrants, the latter of which will eventually claim victory in unifying the United States from East to West. This film establishes the notion that everyone should have the right to liberty and freedom of choice, no matter the race, and reveals the great lengths and sacrifices that one makes in the face of injustice and oppression.

A situation can change one’s circumstances, but it cannot change one’s core beliefs. The first example of this notion is established in the Turkey Creek massacre scene, …show more content…

Things went from bad to worst after the commanding officer shot the medicine man and threatened to arrest Geronimo, an Apache leader. The scene reveals the inner conflict and struggle experienced by one of the Apache scouts, between his duty as a soldier and his belief that the Apaches have the right to be free. He also felt that the oppression that was exerted by the white people on his race was very unjust. This inner conflict ultimately led him to shoot his commanding officer, knowing full well that he will be prosecuted and executed. One of the main aspects that made this scene so intense was the producer intentionally playing with the emotion of the viewer by attempting to place the viewer (point of view) in the mindset of the Apache scout. In the same Turkey Creek scene, we see another example of how the producer ties in liberty and the freedom to speak, and then the ultimate sacrifice that one undertakes for one’s beliefs. Despite several attempts by the commanding officer to get the medicine man to stop dancing and chanting, the medicine man ignores the orders knowing that

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