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Writer's pictureAran Donnelly

Heaven’s Gate: The True Face of America

Updated: Feb 14, 2023


Reviews by:

  • @tvnerdaran

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Initially when I first watched Michael Cimino’s sprawling and ambitious 1980 Western epic, ‘Heaven’s Gate’, I strongly disliked it. At first, I found it boring, meandering, self-indulgent, and far too slow. However, as I kept re-examining the film and playing it over and over in my head, I have realised that the film is a truly epic cinematic experience like no other, and these gripes I had with it disappeared as I remember now with awe the memory of watching such an epic film. It’s not only the film’s epic scope or jaw-dropping cinematography that stands out to me, but also the film’s story and themes: showcasing the United States of America, not as a land of freedom, equality and opportunity, but instead unveils the country dark underbelly and their bloody history of greed, racism, classism, and genocide. The film is a scathing social commentary on how the wealthy upper classes of American society have continuously suppressed, dominated and eradicated impoverished immigrants throughout the country’s dark history, and in this essay, I will explore what makes ‘Heaven’s Gate’ such a special film in my view.

‘Heaven’s Gate’ centres its story primarily around the Johnson County Wars, with the main protagonist Sheriff James Averill (played by Kris Kristofferson) seeks to protect a large community of impoverished immigrants from the murderous wrath of the wealthy and elite cattle barons who seek to have them exterminated. The film also focuses on his relationships with Ella Watson (played by Isabelle Huppert), the woman he loves, and his rival Nathan D. Champion (played by Christopher Walken), who works as a hired assassin for the elite cattle barons. Both Averill and Champion love the same woman, and the love triangle between Averill, Ella and Champion is set amidst the backdrop of the Johnson County War and the extermination of impoverished immigrants at the hands of the wealthy cattle barons.


The film is stunningly and gorgeously shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, who also photographed Cimino’s previous masterpiece, ‘The Deer Hunter’. The wide vistas and beautiful natural scenery, as well as the opulent interiors all add a sense of awe and mysticism to the film that engrosses the viewer and creates a truly wondrous spectacle to behold. The film is also excellently acted, with Kris Kristofferson giving his finest performance as he subtly portrays Averill, a man of upper-class roots and prestige, who nobly makes it his mission in life to protect the immigrants and lower classes. He stands up for those who are essentially weaker than him, making him a true man of the people. Isabelle Huppert is also superb as the beautiful Ella Watson, as her kind and gentle nature, as well as her strong will and determination make her both a strong female character and immensely sympathetic to the audience. Christopher Walken stands out among the three leads as he gives a charismatic and haunting performance as the conflicted Nathan D. Champion who works as an assassin for the wealthy elites, but soon gains a conscience and turns against them when they commit further and further atrocities onto the poor immigrants, including his love Ella. Walken gives an equally complex and haunted portrayal of a complicated man here as he did with his Oscar-winning performance in ‘The Deer Hunter’. Aside from the three excellent leads, the film also boasts a strong supporting cast consisting of John Hurt, Jeff Bridges, Brad Dourif and Sam Waterston as the film’s pompous and scheming primary antagonist.


The film also has a very lyrical and poetic nature to it, with the grand vistas and awe-inspiring scenery being hauntingly juxtaposed against the hated and brutality committed onto its characters. Zsigmond’s painterly portrait of late 19th century Wyoming gives the film a beautifully imaginative poeticism that captures the world Cimino has constructed as one of great beauty and great horror, rivalling the films of Terrence Malick and Andrei Tarkovsky in terms of beautiful scenes of natural imagery and landscapes.


However, what I arguably love most about Michael Cimino’s ‘Heaven’s Gate’ is the scathing social and historical commentary on class conflict, genocide, greed and the true face of America. For decades, America has been portrayed in popular media as a land of freedom, equality and opportunity, with the United States constantly being proclaimed by countless figures in popular media as “the greatest country on Earth”. ‘Heaven’s Gate’ however unveils that facade and reveals the dark underbelly and history of America. In truth, America is a country that was built on the genocide and colonisation of Native Americans, America is a country that was built off the backbone of African slaves, America is a country where the rich have consistently dominated and crushed the poor, and America is a country where the vast majority of its politicians are bought off by giant corporations and create proxy wars, invading other countries in pursuit of profit and expansion. ‘Heaven’s Gate’ is a sprawling commentary on the true face of America, with the film’s brutal depiction of wealthy cattle barons massacring innocent impoverished immigrants who want nothing more than a better life for themselves.


The film is stark, brutal and painfully honest, as Sam Waterston’s pompous, scheming and utterly corrupt main villain Frank Canton represents all that is wrong with America and its history of corruption, abuse and exploitation. You can find the same features of figures like Canton in megalomaniacs like Donald Trump, with both sharing a xenophobic hatred of immigrants and complete disregard for the poor, while seeking to further enrich themselves and their upper-class companions. Canton also resembles Andrew Jackson, the 7th U.S. President who committed the bloody Trail of Tears genocide and displacement of countless Native Americans. Above all, Canton represents the insatiable greed and corruption that has defined America’s history for centuries. The film is a scathing critique of America’s western expansion, and completely rebukes the whitewashed lies and exceptionalism of the early Westerns from the likes of John Ford and John Wayne.

The film also gives a brutal but honest portrayal of rape, when Ella is brutally raped by Canton’s men before Averill arrives and murders all of them. Many classic films have been notably problematic in their depictions of rape, with Sergio Leone’s ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ depicting its main protagonist Noodles graphically raping the so-called “love of his life” Deborah, and still expecting us the audience to feel a certain measure of sympathy for him despite his disgusting and monstrous act. Though a masterpiece, ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ notably fails in my view to fully confront the horror and evil of sexual assault. In ‘Heaven’s Gate’ however, rape is rightfully depicted as a completely monstrous, sadistic and horrific act of pure malevolence, with Ella’s rapists being shown purely as the scum of the earth they are, with there being no sense of romanticism or expectancy to feel any sense of sympathy towards her assaulters whatsoever, much unlike ’Once Upon a Time in America’. This vile and outright repulsive act only serves to further highlight the monstrosity of Canton and the wealthy cattle barons.


But what makes ‘Heaven’s Gate’ stand out so much to me is it’s uncompromisingly bleak ending. In the end, Canton and his men succeed in slaughtering all of the impoverished immigrants as they sought out to do, with both Ella and Nate dying at the hands of Canton and his men. Unlike other films of the 1980’s, with commercialised blockbuster franchises such as ’Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ always featuring good triumphing over evil and the heroes defeating the villains, this film takes the complete opposite route. There is no triumph of good over evil. Though Averill manages to kill Canton, the damage is done. All of the immigrants who Averill sought to protect, including Ella, were slaughtered by Canton and his men, and those who stood against it like Nate were dispatched of in similarly cold-blooded fashion. In the end, Averill is left completely alone, stuck in a wealthy but isolated existence, a far cry from the freedom and openness of the West. There truly is no happy ending for ‘Heaven’s Gate’ as there likewise is for the never-ending saga that is the history of the United States of America.


To close this review, I will leave the reader with this short but honest review from Letterboxd film critic Logan Kenny.

“a nation built on death, acts of genocide, corruption, capital and bitter hatred. the executions may differ but the principles remain the same, nothing really changes, the americana still remains and the poor are still being murdered, their corpses left on the battlefield to rot. god bless the United States right? this is one of the greatest films ever made.” - Logan Kenny.

With all of this, including the film’s epic scope, sprawling narrative, and scathing social and historical commentary, ‘Heaven’s Gate’ has now gone on from a film I once hated to my new favourite film of all time.


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