Hostiles, written and directed by Scott Jason Cooper, is a 2017 Western American film that created its own history. As per Cooper, the movie is one of a kind Western. The movie stars renowned artists like Christian Bale, Wes Studi, Rosamund Pike, Jesse Plemons, Ben Foster, Rory Cochrane, Stephen Lang, Jonathan Majors, Q’orianka Kilcher, and Adam Beach.
The storyline of the movie is set in the year 1892. The story revolves around the character of a US Army cavalry officer, Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale), who is ordered to safely transfer cancer-stricken Cheyenne war officer – Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) and his family to their hometown Montana. Joseph Blocker didn’t accept the assignment, because Yellow Hawk was the person responsible for the death of his several men.
However, Joseph was threatened that he would lose his job and pension, so finally, he accepted the assignment, and their journey started. On the first day of their journey, they visited the Quaid’s house and discovered a traumatized Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike), and the dead bodies of her family. In spite of being in shock, Rosalee accompanied them on the journey.
Looking at the realistic impression of the movie, viewers wondered if it was based on true life events, but well it is a fictional story. Scott did write and direct the movie, but it was originally the idea of Donald E. Stewart. Unfortunately, Stewart passed away before he could finish the story, but since the script was great it caught the eye of Scott Jason Cooper.
Scott Jason Cooper gives credit to Stewart’s wife for presenting the idea of the film to him. Apparently, she stumbled upon the script while cleaning the house. She herself loved the story, but since Steward was no more, she was baffled about what to do with the script. After thinking for a long time, she finally made up her mind and shared the script with Scott Cooper.
The idea of the script instantly grabbed Scott’s attention, and he started refining it. It was indeed a great script, and it’s fortunate that the idea didn’t die with Stewart.
Scott wanted to show the racism issues going on in America, and thus the plot of the movie is specifically set during the time of the Indian war, the racial tension was huge back then. On one side there were Indians, and on the other were whites who wanted their territory. Scott Jason Cooper refined the script and created one that covered political and social topics as well.
The film grabbed extra attention for its authenticity, and the shooting played a vital role in that. The location selected was an expanse of the Western US. The shooting wasn’t carried in the same location. In fact, they consistently moved ahead crossing a huge road. As of now, the movie holds a rating of 7.2/10 and has earned several awards.
The movie was premiered on 2nd September 2017 at the Telluride Film Festival. Later, in the same year, the Entertainment Studios arranged a limited release in the US on December 22nd. Finally, Hostiles gained global recognition on 26th January 2018. The movie received plenty of positive critic reviews and made headlines by making a total of $38 million worldwide.