Old outlaw in the wilderness: gloom revisionist tale of a hero who was no hero
Spoiler: Robin Hood is going to die. In bluntly titled drama The Death of Robin Hood, that might be exactly what one is programmed to expect but, in this often intriguing revisionist tale, it’s what he leaves behind that might be more of a shock – Hugh Jackman darkens a heroic tale in grim drama – The Guardian review
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE
It is indeed a shock to see an aged wild Robin Hood in the wilderness running away not just from the law, but from fathers and brothers who want to avenge his thefts and murders. It immediately reminds us of the old western heroes rethinking their past, their (often bad) deeds they did in those crepuscular western movies in the New Hollywood age (and sometimes in Classic Hollywood too). These “revisionist” or “elegiac” Westerns dismantle the romantic myths of the Old West through the eyes of men who lived through it, as this Robin Hood does to the Good Outlaw myth. In Unforgiven (1992), for example, Clint Eastwood plays an ageing killer. The movie is a dark meditation on his younger days, and the horrific things he did when he was a younger. In The Shootist (1976), John Wayne’s final film role, an ageing gunslinger dying of cancer spends his final days looking back on his violent life. Why not include in this lot The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), one of John Ford’s masterpieces, the story of an elderly senator and his complicated relationship with a rugged cowboy played by John Wayne.
So here Robin is no hero; forget the legends, the ballads, the movies, the cartoons: he is a violent thief who kills and gives the money not to the poor but to himself. The film starts as an epic and then turns into a chamberpiece: the first part is in fact full of violence and fights while the second is meditative drama. Identity unknown, Robin is in the convent of Kirkesly, trying to recover his health after he was badly wounded by a vengeful head of a family, assisted by the ambiguous prioress Brigid (Jodie Comer) who is supposed to nurse him back to health. Is she another dark Lady? No spoiler here.
The second part of the film is inspired by the famous ballad Robin Hood’s Death (17th century, one of the oldest existing tales of Robin Hood, ballad # 120 in the famous Child Ballads collection). Our expectations lead us to predict that Robin’s past will come back to haunt him and bring chaos to the tranquillity of his new home, but our expectations are delayed. It is an uneventful, introspective part, based on the ambiguous relation Robin/Brigid, healer or killer? A relationship of attraction and moral duty, a representation of an impossible family, daughter included (murdered Little John’s orphan adolescent). Who is she thinking of as she secretly takes her pleasure in the candlelit cave while Robin is watching in the dark? How is Robin in the end going to pass away, as stated in the title? Notwithstanding these questions, in this final part sometimes you look at your watch, but overall the film is worth seeing.
Here is a musical version of the ballad Robin Hood’s Death. Don’t go for it if you don’t want to be spoiled.