LET HIM GO

US, 2020, 113 minutes, Colour.
Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Lesley Manville, Kayli Carter, Boo-boo Stewart, Jeffrey Donovan, Wil Brittain, Ryan Bruce.
Directed by Thomas Bezucha.

The him of the title is a little boy. The speaker who says, let him go, is the boy’s grandfather, George, a quietly genial Kevin Costner. He is speaking to his wife, a feisty and determined Diane Lane, Margaret, absolutely devoted to her grandson.

The setting is the American West in the 1960s. George has been a lawman for 30 years. He and Margaret have one son, James, who has married Lorna and have a little boy, Jamie. Sadly, at the beginning of the film, James is thrown from his horse and dies. The action moves a couple of years, the grandparents doting on the child (Margaret unwittingly edging Lorna out so often). Lorna remarries and she and Jamie move out. But, all is not well, Margaret seeing the new husband hitting wife and son in the street.

Margaret cannot let him go. She persuades George that they should travel to visit their grandson and bring him back home. They travel, find that the family has moved to North Dakota where the husband comes from, a son in a matriarchal family called We boy. It is not going to be a happy journey.

The Weboys live out in a rather desolate countryside, both mountainous and open plains. They live in a rather Gothic mansion – which gives the tone to the rest of the action, Gothic Western..

The messages about the Weboys are grim. This is communicated powerfully when the couple arrive and encounter the matriarch herself, Blanche, a frightening performance by British Lesley Manville. She is dominating. Her sons and nephew support her. There is high tension at a meal. And, the tension continues, Blanch ousting the couple.

The fact is that Lorna and her son are virtually imprisoned in the old mansion, Lorna allowed to go into town to work in a store. Her callow husband seems neglectful. George and Margaret arrange a meeting and a possible plan.

This, of course, builds up to determination on Margaret’s part, George supporting her, and their getting some kind help from a Native American who lives out in the countryside by himself, Peter (Booboo Stewart).

The United States has a gun culture, and problems in the west of the past were solved by the gun. It is not exactly a heroic shootout at the end but, rather, a doomed shootout. We are left to wonder whether there was any alternative.

1. As a Western? As a family story? As a Gothic Western? As a violent Western?

2. The period, the 1960s, ranchers and homes, horses and riding?

3. The contrast with North Dakota, the landscapes and mountains, open spaces, roads, the mansion, the interiors? The musical score?

4. Establishing the setting, Margaret and George, George and his police work, their age, James, his marriage to Lorna, their son? In the house, Margaret and her love for her grandson, excluding Lorna? James, the riding, his accidental death? The consequences? Grief?

5. Time passing, Lorna marrying again, Donnie We boy, the small ceremony, Lorna and Donnie moving out? Margaret in town, seeing Donnie and his hitting the boy, hitting Lorna? Her reaction? Talking with George, her determination, the decision to visit, to bring the boy home?

6. The travel, finding the house, informed that the family had gone? Continue travel, going to the town, making enquiries, people’s reaction to the We boy’s? The encounter with Peter, Native American, past experiences, by himself, his bond with Margaret and George?

7. Ominous warnings about the We boys? Meeting will We boy? The talk, the background of the family, smiling but insidious? His driving the car, George following? Margaret in the car, Bill and his talk? The isolation, the view of the Gothic mansion?

8. Audience anticipation of the We boys? In the house, the first meeting with blanch, her manner, sinister, age, tough, smoking, taunting? Her sons arriving home? The preparation for the meal? Lorna working in the town, coming home with her son? Blanch as the matriarch, making the rules, manipulative? The confrontation between Margaret and blanch, about Donnie hitting, and blanch and her brutal hitting Margaret?

9. The meal, blanches demands, the awkwardness, Margaret and her defiance? Walking out?

10. In the town, the motel, their plan? Going to see Lorna, the lunch, her fears? The decision to return?

11. Coming back to the house, the encounter with the family? Lorna, with the boy, getting out, falling down the stairs, getting out of the house, going to Margaret?

12. George, in the house, with his gun, helping Lorna, confronting the men, confronting Blanch, getting the gun, the shooting? George and his death?

13. The reliance on Peter, staying with him, his support? Their wanting to help Peter and his future?

14. Lorna and the boy, Margaret, surviving?

15. The United States, family, clashes, the reliance on the gun?