Unforgiven

Unforgiven is a great western movie.

But the more I re-watch the more I sympathize with the hero.  Little Bill.

Sure he is a flawed hero.  Very.  But his is just trying to maintain order in a wild cow town with a handful of nigh incompetent deputies.  Can't be easy.  He is hard.  Too hard, obviously, with the criminal element.  But this hardness serves as a deterrent.  Or so he hope.





The whole point of the cruelty is to communicate.  To others  The prostitutes may have been wronged, but they have gone outside the system now.  As flawed as their little society it, it is still civilizatiom.  With rules they enjoy.   To go outside it is to invite worse terrors to descend upon them.  And they do. 

It's not that Little Bill is an asshole.  He's more of a son of a bitch.  Far from help.  In fact TOO far, as William Munny proves.  Just trying to survive and thrive and maintain order.

William Munny isn't the hero.  And here is the thing.  He knows it.  He's the bad guy.  Dastardly and cowardly.  Just trying to finally get past it.  His redemption.  Given him by his dead wife.