New to DVD: Forsaken

His first instinct is to smile.

Reverend Samuel Clayton's son left home ten years ago to fight in the Civil War, and Forsaken tells the story of his long delayed return to his home town. Rev. Clayton (Donald Sutherland) doesn't exactly welcome his son with open arms. The Reverend is deeply bitter because his son, John Henry Clayton (Kiefer Sutherland) was gone when John Henry's mother died. What's equally unforgivable in the Reverend's eyes is exactly what John Henry's been up to while he's been gone: After the war, John Henry roamed the Wild West earning a reputation as a notorious gun-slinger.

Now John Henry is back, and finally determined to put his violent past behind him, but his timing couldn't possibly be worse. News recently broke that a railroad is scheduled to be constructed right through the town of Fallen, and people are excited about the inevitable prosperity this development will bring. Most excited is James McCurdy (Brian Cox), a wealthy land developer who is buying up all of the soon-to-be-valuable farmland in the area. Anyone who doesn't sell willingly is greeted by fists if they're lucky, bullets if they're not.

On the surface, this is a story that is so old, used in so many previous Westerns, that Mel Brooks was already making fun of most of these exact plot elements way back in 1974. (Seriously, compare the details of the villain's motivation and methods between Blazing Saddles and Forsaken. Identical.) But Forsaken certainly isn't played for laughs, and it's not about the details of the plot anyway; it's about the emotionally complex relationships that John Henry has with the other characters. One of those relationships is the one with Mary-Alice Watson (Demi Moore), otherwise known as that reliable stock character, the Woman the Hero Left Behind. Now Mary-Alice is married -- no real shocker there, at least not to the viewer -- and John Henry's return drudges up old feelings better left forgotten.

The most intriguing character is "Gentleman" Dave Turner (Michael Wincott), who is sort of a villain and sort of not. Yes, he works for and is loyal to the evil land developer. But he's called "Gentleman" Dave for a reason. He believes that violence should be used only as a last resort, and when McCurdy sends him to intimidate farmers into selling their land, Gentleman Dave prefers attempting to simply talk the farmers into leaving. He doesn't bluster. He presents a calm, rational, respectful, sympathetic argument in favor of selling the land to McCurdy.

Of course, if the farmer is unconvinced, McCurdy's other men shoot the farmer dead. But hey, at least Dave tried to be polite and reasonable.

Dave and John respect each other as gun-slingers and war veterans, but more than that, there is a hint that they genuinely like each other as people -- which, of course, leads to mutual regret that they're on opposite sides of the increasingly violent class struggle unfolding in the town of Fallen.

The central relationship in the film, however, is the one between John Henry and his father. The Reverend's bitterness borders on hatred and yes, at times, it seems to cross that border all together.

But then there's that smile. If Forsaken is defined by the relationships of its characters -- and it is -- then the core relationship, between John Henry and his father, is equally defined by the Reverend's anger, bitterness, disappointment, and disapproval in his son. His first words to John Henry in this movie are harsh words indeed.

But before the Reverend says anything at all, when he first sees John Henry return, the Reverend's first instinct is to break into a joyously sincere, wide grin. The grin is so brief that if you blink at the wrong moment, you'll miss it entirely, but it's there, and the more you think about it, the more it re-defines the whole relationship. Which redefines the whole movie.

The blink-and-you-miss-it moment is just one of many aspects of this film that elevates it beyond the cliches found in the story. Yes, the movie deals with some unpleasant topics: unforgiveness, violence, war, and deep emotional hurt. But between the gorgeous cinematography (the town of Fallen is surrounded not by deserts, but by brooks, rivers, and lush, green meadows) and the top-of-the-audiences's-intelligence screenplay, one might observe that this is a beautiful movie about ugly themes.

It's really quite something.