The Salvation (2014) Review

Lucas Versantvoort / 20 Nov 2015

It seems the planets must have aligned perfectly, since we've been blessed with a new western, a Danish one no less. I would call westerns a dying breed, but save for the occasional one, it seems they've been dead for the longest time. The Salvation is not without its flaws, but it's wonderfully violent and takes no prisoners.

It's the 1870s. Jon (Mads Mikkelsen) awaits his wife and ten-year-old son's return at the train station. They arrive and get on a coach to Jon's house, but two drunk guys interrupt the happy reunion and after a tussle, toss Jon out of the carriage. Jon runs after them, finds his son and wife dead. As you can imagine, he kills those responsible without the slightest hesitation. It turns out, however, that one of them was the brother of Delarue, a gang leader. Delarue terrorizes the town and the people are forced to essentially betray Jon, who finds himself almost alone in facing Delarue. But the widow to Delarue's brother, the mute Madelaine (Eva Green) will also play a part in all this.

If anything, The Salvation won't signal the return of westerns. There's no denying we've all seen these types of Westerns before. The first film that springs to mind about a lone hero is High Noon. (There's a few other westerns The Salvation also tips its hat to.) But The Salvation explores some darker territory. It's more interested in the tragic cycle of violence and revenge than the idea of a lonesome hero. As such, the film is filled to the brim with violence and tragedy, sometimes to the film's detriment. While the sparse storytelling enhances the immediacy of these themes, it can make the amount of violence feel like an endurance test. While the cycle of revenge and violence are themes that come across loud and clear, less successful are other themes like the corrupting nature of oil and money. These aspects of the story tend to linger in the background.

Despite all that, The Salvation is graced with some stellar acting and cinematography. Daytime scenes are bathed in that golden sheen whereas nighttime scenes are filtered to look almost black-and-white. The gunfights are also wonderfully shot. Director Levring thankfully prefers clearly choreographed action that doesn't hide behind rapid editing to 'enhance' the action. And who could forget Mads Mikkelsen, the man who can convey so much with so little. Eva Green is wonderfully cast as well. Her lack of dialogue allows her to convey everything with those dramatic eyes of hers. 

It's a bit of a pickle. The sparse storytelling and the lack of needless melodrama give The Salvation a rawness that I find really compelling in westerns. Then again, this same sparseness does tend to undermine the story's main themes and, to a lesser extent, its emotional impact. Like I said, it's not perfect, but in the end there's something about a hardcore, no-nonsense western like this that's irresistible.