(Major Spoilers Included)
The Last of the Mohicans is a fast-paced, incredibly violent movie about three Indian’s protecting two British sisters in the midst of conflict between England and France in the Americas. Throughout the movie, the daughters of the British general, Cora and Alice Munro are essentially the only female figures depicted. While this is not a horror film, it tends to aline with much of what Linda Williams characterizes the role of women in similar pieces. The two, especially Alice (played by Jodhi May), tend to be portrayed as Williams describes “terrorized girl-victim[s]” in this conflict for control over the Americas (pg 6). The emotions of their male counterparts are displayed in their actions, but for the women, it is seen in their faces.
After being separated from her sister and the group of men escorting them, Alice is taken by hostile Indians. Her love interest comes to her aid, every time he is knocked down he stands back up, showing his dedication, but he is eventually killed and falls off the very large cliff.
Alice makes a choice, debatably her first in the entire movie. Unaware that help is on the way, she breaks free of her captures and stands at the edge of the same cliff. For a moment, the movie slows down and the expressions on her face are amplified. As she stares her enemy, she is scared, but we see the heartbreak in her expression. She looks down off the cliff, then back at the Indian. The shot lingers on her face, within just a few seconds emotions flash across, anger, sorrow, spite. He lowers his weapon, caught off guard, debatably afraid, and offers her his hand (still stained with the blood of her love), but in her eyes we know her choice has already been made.
Silently, she steps off the cliff.
Just minutes later her help arrives, her captures are killed, but it is too late. For the first time in the movie she had the power and she exercised it, but like in the horror films, she meets her end just moments “too early” (pg 11).
Sources
Williams, Linda. “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess.”
The Last of the Mohicans: Director’s Cut (1992) Directed by Michael Mann
American Culture 