Dead Man's Burden

Dead Man's Burden

Dead Man's Burden

*** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot analyzed* Dead Man's Burden is a completely average Western film. Although it is commonplace, it is still nice to see Westerns being made. The New Mexico scenery is always stunning to behold, but the acting is quite average. No one stands out at all. Some of the scenes are just plain routine, since the cast can not elevate them beyond the limits of their paltry acting range. Some may like this style, as it reflects a homegrown flavor that is found in many of today's Westerns. A brother returns to home to find most of his family dead, and his sister may be responsible. It is slow, at times a bit soporific. It's still worth a watch.

It was a good little independent film set in post civil war New Mexico. The actor's were good especially Clare Bowman. The location was perfect for the film. You could see why they would want to move away The interview the director gave at one of the film festivals was interesting. He really was glad to be an independent filmmaker. Thee wee a lot of twist and turns you don't expect.

This movie will show what comes around goes around if you have that level of depth to understand that not all movies need a big bang just a subtle few shots

The camera work is good. The storyline is not bad but the acting is pretty bland. The movie just goes along and you don't really have any interest in who lives or who dies because none of the actors really are much of anything but just there.

Something different here. Story flows along not always in an expected direction. Directing and acting above average.

It's technically very well done, the scenery is wonderful and it's a pretty good story. The acting is pretty good, too. So, why did I give it only five out of ten stars? There's just something about it, pacing maybe, that put me off. Or the ''look'' of it. It looks like it was shot with HD digital cams, and looks like the old TV Soaps used to look when they were shot on Video Tape, and everything looks a bit too 'real.'..Or something. Hard to describe.

I've seen and reviewed hundreds of Westerns here, but this is one of the most unconventional stories you're liable to come across. It's got that familiar element of a greedy land grabber trying to bilk a woman out of her family's ranch, but the story goes much deeper to reveal the dysfunction of all it's characters, most notably Martha Kirkland (Clare Brown), who opens the story in uncharacteristic fashion. I won't make that reveal here for the benefit of those who haven't seen it yet, but the film sends the viewer on a compelling journey in trying to determine who the picture's good guys and bad guys are. With all the clichéd story lines one will run up against in the Western genre, this one offers up a number of intriguing elements that haven't been tested before, at least up to this point in my viewing experience. The first was that 'bullet in the glass' which put Martha and husband Heck (David Call) on notice that Wade McCurry (Barlow Jacobs) wasn't buying the explanation for his father's death. The limited back stories of the principal players also contributed to the unsettling resolution that came with Heck's confrontation against Wade. That he rode with Quantrill's Raiders and Bloody Bill Anderson went a long way to explain how he had no trouble gunning down mining company rep Lane (Joseph Lyle Taylor). For an independent production with a novice director, I can only see good things going forward for Jared Moshe, who crafted this movie with relative unknowns. The cinematography was more than competent, and though I acknowledge the occasional inaudible dialog that other reviewers have mentioned, my use of captioning proved useful enough to understand what the characters were talking about. For anyone who believes the tale is too slow in the telling, stick around for the final resolution, as it stands typical Western conventions on their head. The only thing I was left to ponder in the end was how Three Penny Hank got his name.