By Jae-Ha Kim
CDNOW.com
The Last of the Mohicans is as much a love story as it is a tale of how the West was won — by some people, that is, the poor Mohicans not being among them. Set in 1757, during the American colonial wars between the English and French settlers of North America, the movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye, a frontiersman who agrees to escort Clara (Madeleine Stowe) and her sister to the fort where their British-officer father awaits them.
Along the way, the couple falls in love. As they are pursued by enemies, they must decide whether to die together or separate and fight to survive. In the film’s most memorable scene Hawkeye tells Clara, “Stay alive. I will find you,” before jumping into a turbulent waterfall.
With his long black hair pulled back (the better to show off his handsome face), Day-Lewis brings swashbuckling vigor to the role of a stoic warrior who was adopted by the Mohican tribe.
When the film was released in 1992, much was made of the fact that director Michael Mann (Heat) put the actors through a settlers’ boot camp. Though this training doesn’t make the movie any more realistic, the usually wiry and anemic-looking Day-Lewis looks buffer than usual as he runs half-clothed through the woods. In this throwback to old Hollywood romances, Hawkeye is portrayed, of course, with an air of invincibility. Guns, cannons, and arrows may be fired at him, but he always manages to escape.
As a historical piece, The Last of the Mohicans is laughable. But the film is gorgeous, lush, and highly engaging — and a lot easier to digest than the rambling novel by James Fenimore Cooper, whose prose Mark Twain once called “a crime against the language.”
