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The Settlers (2023 film)

2023 western film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Settlers (2023 film)
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The Settlers (Spanish: Los colonos) is a 2023 revisionist Western drama film directed by Felipe Gálvez Haberle (in his directorial debut),[5] who co-wrote the script with Antonia Girardi in collaboration with Mariano Llinás.[6][7] The film stars Mark Stanley, Camilo Arancibia, Benjamin Westfall, Alfredo Castro, Mishell Guaña, Sam Spruell, Marcelo Alonso, and Adriana Stuven.[8] It is a co-production between Chile, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, France, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany.[9]

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The Settlers had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2023. It competed for Un Certain Regard and Caméra d'Or and alongside those was honored with the FIPRESCI Prize, becoming the first Chilean production to win that award.[10] It was selected as the Chilean entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.[11]

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Synopsis

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In 1893, Segundo, a Chilean mestizo, Alexander MacLennan, a Scottish veteran, and Bill, an American mercenary, embark on an expedition on horseback to delimit and reclaim the lands that the State has granted to José Menéndez. What appears to be an administrative expedition turns into a violent hunt for Onas, the natives of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago.[12][13] The Selknam genocide lies at the core of the film.

Thanks to his excellent shooting skills, Segundo is initially chosen as the sole man to accompany MacLennan on his task. However, on the day they're set to depart on their journey, José Menéndez informs MacLennan that a man of his own choosing, a mercenary called Bill, will be joining them.

MacLennan sports a distinctive red jacket and is believed to have spent time serving as a lieutenant in the British army. Once they are alone together, Bill shares his doubts about Segundo's reliability with MacLennan and questions why, as a lieutenant, he doesn't have more men following him, to which MacLennan counters that Segundo is disciplined and one disciplined man is better than ten undisciplined ones.

After several days of travel without seeing anyone else, the trio find a group of soldiers on the Argentine border accompanying a scientist charged with charting the border of Argentina. The trio engage with the soldiers in various competitions, including shooting, arm wrestling and boxing. During the evening, the scientist muses on the dangers of letting a military grow bored and shows a somewhat perverse interest in Native Americans. MacLennan questions if the scientist knows the location of more natives.

After leaving the soldiers and scientist at their camp, the trio continues until they come across a group of Native Americans. MacLennan and Bill work together to slaughter most of the people there, while Segundo is unable to bring himself to kill any of them, though he does consider shooting Bill, ultimately deciding not to. After the slaughter, MacLennan and Bill take turns raping a young female survivor. When Segundo refuses to join them in doing this, MacLennan threatens to kill him if he doesn't. As the victim is lying out of sight of the others, Segundo feigns acquiescence with MacLennan's request, but instead kills the young woman when he reaches her, presumably to spare her more pain.

The trio next come upon a group of English soldiers, the leader of which reveals during a shared dinner that MacLennan is not a lieutenant, but only a private masquerading as one. Bill shows surprise that a higher ranking officer would be willing to share a meal with a lowly private, at which point the English officer shoots Bill dead in disgust. The officer offers MacLennan a Native American woman as a replacement for Bill, which MacLennan accepts. The officer rapes MacLennan. Segundo, MacLennan and the woman all part together the next morning.

Seven years later, José Menéndez is living in a beautiful Chilean mansion in Punta Arenas and is accompanied by his daughter and a clergyman when they receive a visit from a man named Marcial Vicuña, sent from the capital to assess what can be done for the people of Chile in celebration of its centennial. Menéndez claims that many men have visited this area before and only focused on the negatives without really helping. Vicuña asks if the negatives he refers to include the deeds of men like Alexander MacLennan, nicknamed The Red Pig. Menéndez reveals that MacLennan is now dead, but did work for him for many years and Vicuña recounts a story he'd read which claimed MacLennan and his men poisoned a beached whale, resulting in the deaths of a hundred Native Americans. Menéndez defends his former employee, referring to him as Lieutenant MacLennan instead, and his daughter and the clergyman also defend the actions taken against the natives.

When an agreement cannot be reached between the four people, Menéndez takes Vicuña upstairs to a study so the two of them can "talk seriously". Vicuña explains that the government in Santiago feel all social groups must live and work together in order to achieve true peace, to which Menéndez claims they already live in peace in this part of Chile. Vicuña claims an agreement has been reached with the Mapuche and now wishes to speak to the Onas in order to make one with them. However, he then states that his main goal is to bury some of the more violent aspects of how Menéndez came to own so much land.

Marcial Vicuña next travels to Chiloé Island to try and find Segundo, where he is greeted by a Native American woman named Rosa, Segundo's wife. She tells Vicuña, whose authority she doesn't respect, that Segundo is out at sea and she's unsure when he will be back. However, this statement is interrupted by Segundo exiting their home, at which point Vicuña pressures Rosa to let him speak to Segundo.

Once inside their house, Vicuña explains to Segundo that he wishes to report details of the violent crimes Menéndez had him commit. He asks how Segundo and Rosa met and Segundo explains that Menéndez appointed MacLennan "Peace Judge" and Rosa was intended to help translate discussions between MacLennan and the natives. However, Segundo then goes on to tell of a time when MacLennan held a great beachside banquet for over three hundred Native Americans. Once the attendees were all drunk, MacLennan, Segundo and others took up rifles and started killing all of the natives, driving them into the sea and strangling them where necessary.

Vicuña then sets the couple up at a table outside their house with a tea set in front of them. He has his assistant, Laura, fill their cups and then instructs them to each drink the tea while he films them. Segundo does so almost immediately, but Rosa does not, despite Vicuña's demands and insistence that she needs to do this if she wants to be "part of this nation".

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Cast

Release

Festival

It had its world premiere on 22 May 2023, at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.[14] then it was screened on 12 August 2023, in the Fiction Competition section of the 27th Lima Film Festival[15] and soon on 7 September 2023, in the Centerpiece section at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival.[16][17]

Distribution

MUBI announced that they have acquired distribution rights for multiple territories, including North America, Latin America, the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Turkey, India, and the Benelux. They plan to release the film theatrically in the UK and the US.[18]

Reception

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Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 55 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10.[19] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[20]

Accolades

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See also

References

External links

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