Easily one of the most spectacularly crafted films of the nineties and unfortunately it is also one of the most overlooked and underrated.
British and French troops do battle in colonial America, with aid from various native American war parties. The British troops enlist the help of local colonial militia men, who are reluctant to leave their homes undefended. A budding romance between a British officer's daughter and an independent man who was reared as a Mohican complicates things for the British officer, as the adopted Mohican pursues his own agenda despite the wrath of different people on both sides of the conflict
The final sequence is possibly one of the greatest climaxes in film history. There is no dialogue during the final battle. Only a strongly composed musical score. Even the final dialogue atop the mountain by Russell Means is phenomenal. We see in his face the end of his people and believe it. Additionally there is the brilliant cinematography and gorgeous untamed landscape that is consistently seen in the film.
Director Michael Mann has managed something quite extraordinary in that he was able to make a version of James Fenimore Cooper's novel that is equal to the 1936 version starring Randolph Scott, if not able to surpass it.
There aren't enough adjectives in any thesaurus or dictionary to describe my love of this picture. Fantastic, beautiful, unbelievable, exquisite, perfection all come to mind in addition to ones that I don't even have enough time to list. The Last of the Mohicans is largely one of the major reasons I want my life to be in film. It is one of the first films I was aware of and remains after all these years to be one of my absolute favorite films.
★★★★
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