My friend invited me over this afternoon to watch a Corbucci double-bill comprised of Great Silence and Django (1966). Having previously seen the outrageously fun, machismo-infested tribulations of the latter's coffin-pulling protagonist, I was excited to watch another of the director's pictures; having Klaus Kinski and Jean-Louis Trintignant as the rivaling leading men only serving to heighten the level of anticipation. The film tells of a mute roaming gunslinger (Trintignant) who uses men's short fuses against them to assassinate in 'self-defense' until he falls on Tigrero (Kinski), a banker-backed bounty hunter who is in town to rid them of a murderous bunch of rebels taking refuge in the surrounding mountains. When both men are hired to kill the other, hands move quickly and thumbs get blown off as good struggles to keep evil at bay. The paint-red blood and graphic nature of the violence makes one think of Pekinpah and his most probably having seen this picture in preparation for The Wild Bunch (1969). Taking place during a blizzard, Silence often uses snow as backdrop for consistently beautiful shots, contrasting the vividness of the white against the emptiness of the black sky. Taking place in the snow is not the only unconventional element, as the scales of morality constantly sway and are manipulated to create one of the most hopeless westerns I've ever seen. While the film may be initially hard to take seriously, a common occurrence with dubbed films made even more significant here with the change of Kinski's voice into a dandy southern drawl, you quickly get sucked in by the violently tense action sequences, Ennio Morriconne's masterfull yet unconventional score and Kinski's demonically evil facial expressions. Taking unexpected turns at every crossroads, Silence leaves the viewer stunned until its jaw-dropping, merciless finale.
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