It’s not until midway through Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 that we’re finally introduced to Kevin Costner’s character. As one would expect, his presence is immediately felt on the screen. Doubling as director, his entrance is framed with both intrigue and potential. We only have any sort of read on him as an audience because, of course, he’s Kevin Costner. And it’s only a few short scenes before we see his Hayes Ellison spring into action. But those expecting to see the traditionally cinematic Western-style duel may be shocked at how Costner and cinematographer J. Michael Muro frame this action sequence. Beyond its stark violence and quick dispelling of general Western iconography, there’s a single moment that practically encapsulates everything this film, and presumably, the entire saga, is setting out to achieve.
Costner’s Hayes spends the majority of this initial confrontation listening to a stranger we know to be volatile. Yet Costner, in an ever so gruff manner, brushes him off. We witness the shot highlighted in this article only upon escalation from this stranger. Moments after quelling the immediate threat, Hayes begins walking towards his enemy to ensure he stays down. He’s hiding behind a trough of water, and Muro points the camera at the back of this enemy, so we see his gun being raised over the trough. We don’t see Costner, but we know he’s in the direction of the weapon. The film then cuts to a close overhead of the trough, where we only see the reflection of Hayes’ face and raised weapon. The shots are fired, captured at a wide angle, and Hayes is safe. But then, Muro again treats us to the overhead shot. And we see Costner’s reflection lower his weapon and begin walking toward the now lifeless body. As his reflection gets closer to the edge of the trough, his face becomes nearly impossible to make out. The murky water takes a reflection that once resembled the legendary screen presence and now resembles nothing but a shadow. We can no longer make anything out. The shot lasts only a handful of seconds, but it speaks volumes. Through the violence depicted here and throughout the film, we all come upon an inevitable loss of self. And yet, is this not a film about the bedrock of the country we know today? This film certainly romanticizes large swaths of Western American iconography at times. However, this particular reflection shot is just one of many ways in which Muro takes cinematic iconography and paints a much darker light on America’s past than older Western films typically care to depict.
So much of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is fragmented. Of course, this is partially due to the design of Costner’s grand storytelling idea. This first film is only a quarter of the story. However, the fragmentation also feels like the entire crux of the film in the first place. Take the example of standard establishing shots. Muro, in typical Western fashion, captures a range of incredible vistas. We see wide open land as far as the camera can capture. It’s miles upon miles of emptiness. There’s beauty likely to be found as audiences take in the splendor of true wilderness before contemporary society sets in. But there is also plenty of opportunity for loss to drag some down. Secondly, capturing such wide-open plains only makes claustrophobic scenes all the more frightening. An early scene in the film takes place in an incredibly small tunnel. Muro shoots the sequence primarily in tight close-ups. The width of the frame practically takes up the entirety of the tunnel. The tunnel is a means of escape from the destruction of a sprawling town. How Muro shoots it confirms that by no means is this an escape. No matter how wide open the land may seem, characters are forced into frightening situations. Throughout the American West, violence begot violence. Costner seems to have understood this, and Muro, in turn, captures traditional imagery with this in mind. For as much beauty and serenity as there is in this 180-minute film, there’s often a counterpart of bigoted uneasiness and environmental hardship captured as well. The massive ensemble of characters we see all have personal motivations influencing their actions. However, the characters Costner’s film follows the most are mainly ones that allow a sense of hate and anger to propel them forward.
It’s these wide-ranging vistas and open expanses that make it easy for characters to get lost in personal turmoils and prejudices. Inevitably, these hateful feelings lead to ruinous violence. The violence in Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is another element at which Muro’s cinematography excels. As written earlier, it’s captured shockingly quickly and with an almost unjust eye. After all, this is a harsh world, and Muro captures the imagery with equal ambivalence. These events are merely happening, and there’s nothing Muro or the viewer can do to stop them. Mind you, there is still some spectacle to it all. At his core, Costner seems to be a filmmaker who wants to entertain and engage his audience first and foremost.
But what’s most interesting about Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 to me is all that is bubbling below the surface. We catch glimpses of that undercurrent through Muro’s cinematography, which pulls from traditional imagery of the genre and twists it into something new—something riding the line between critical and disappointment. As beautiful as these landscapes may be, it’s a reminder that the history of this country was built atop hatred, prejudice, and a consistent attempt to stoke violence before peace.
Shockingly enough, if Muro were to get recognized by the Academy, it would be the first Western feature film to show up on Hollywood’s biggest night in quite some time. While the early years of Hollywood found countless Western films being produced, it’s a genre that barely sees the big screen anymore. In the instance that they do, they’re usually neo-Westerns or pulling from the genre to take tropes in a new direction. There’s nothing wrong with that, but genre representation at the Oscars is always a pleasure. Plus, Costner shined a massive spotlight on the Western once before with his award-winning Dances with Wolves. To have his latest massive film do the same would be a poetic addition to an undeniable legacy. With all that’s occurred surrounding the release strategy of Horizon: An American Saga, such a celebration of it would be both exciting and rightfully deserved. Muro’s cinematography depicts characters venturing into uncharted territory, and with this film released in such a cinematic landscape, Costner has done the same.
