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Review: The Dead Don’t Hurt

— by BEV QUESTAD —

This film is a tour de force in dramatization, headed up by charismatic Viggo Mortensen and inner strength phenome Vicky Krieps. The entire cast takes you inside the times and minds of people trying to survive in hardscrabble southwest America during the time of the Civil War.

“The Dead Don’t Hurt” is also a major feat in editing by Peder Pedersen. In the first minutes we see clips from a scene in the Middle Ages, glimpses of growing up in a log cabin, a woman dying, a rampaging murderer, a shrouded body, and a trial all interspersed with periodic takes of a man with a beard calmly riding a beautiful horse with a young boy – all at moments in time hardly sequential.

Pedersen’s complex editing style remains throughout the movie. Surprisingly, the flashbacks and flashforwards neither confuse nor distract, but rather enhance our understanding of the story and the characters.

In Nevada, circa the 1860s, the Union needed soldiers, but most men out west didn’t feel called to go, especially the new immigrants. There was no draft and other duties related to land, livestock, settlement and money-making took precedence.

Love finds a way
The main woman in these parts is Vivienne (Krieps), a flower seller in San Francisco with short hair and no make-up. She has high expectations and finds her current rich suiter too boring to tolerate. So, when she notices a new man in town, Holger Olsen (Viggo Mortensen), she brazenly makes his acquaintance. She learns he has Danish roots and is possibly just traveling through. Much too soon she ends up on a horse, moving with him to a smaller, more remote town named Elk Flats, Nevada.

One bad man
Because there’s a crazy guy in this new start-up town who has a wealthy, influential father, justice has a hard time getting established. Though Weston (superbly played by Solly McLeod) is nuts, he’s simply symptomatic of a town and nation in trouble. Cowed by fear and potential retribution, the court system is a sham and the integrity of the town, despite one stubborn female voice, cannot stand.

Why do people fight?
In one of the flashbacks, it seems when Vivienne was a young girl she lived in a log cabin with her parents. At one point, after her father left to fight in a war, her mother is reading to her about Joan of Arc. Vivienne asks her mother, “Why do people fight?”

That question ends up haunting her and is a theme in the film.

About Viggo
Mortensen is multi-talented. He’s an artist, poet, writer, and actor. He grew up in the US, Venezuela, Argentina and Denmark. He is best known for playing the heroic Aragorn in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy (2001-2003), and tough Tony Lip in “Green Book” (2018). Mortensen has written that his screenplay for this movie was based on the character of his own resilient mother and the film is dedicated to her.

My evaluation
The acting of each character in “The Dead Don’t Hurt” is outstanding. As a director, Mortensen lets each person shine. The sets, locations, cinematography and editing are inspired.

I love how Vivienne serves as a model of resilience, confidence and drive. That the men are attracted to those characteristics and respect her is a plus. Aspects of her medical condition, which I’m not divulging, was confusing for me, but the thought-provoking themes of why men fight, justice, and self-determination are well-developed.

Overall, Mortensen has created a haunting film of surprising tenderness and uncommon depth.



Credits

Director/Writer/Cast/Composer Viggo Mortensen
Produced by: Regina Solorzano, Jeremy Thomas, Viggo Mortensen
Executive Producers: Roberto Paxson, Gabriel Terrazas, Ivan Kelava,
Daniel Berkerman, Jesper Morthorst, Paula Astorga Riestra, Peter Watson
Editor: Peder Pedersen
Cast: Vicky Krieps, Viggo Mortensen, Solly McLeod, Garret Dillahunt,
Colin Morgan, Ray McKinnon, W. Earl Brown, Atlas Green and Danny Huston
Running Time: 129 minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: May 31, 2024
Official website and how to view: https://www.shoutstudios.com/the-dead-dont-hurt

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