SYNOPSICS
The Tonto Woman (2008) is a English movie. Daniel Barber has directed this movie. Charlotte Asprey,Francesco Quinn,Richard Brake,Sam Douglas are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2008. The Tonto Woman (2008) is considered one of the best Short,Drama,Romance,Western movie in India and around the world.
A white woman is kidnapped from her home by Apache Indians. Traded to the Mojave Indians, she lives as a squaw for 11 years until she is found by her husband. Unfit for society he keeps her in a shack in the desert. Her solitary existence is transformed with the arrival of a Mexican. He befriends her, reignites her self-worth and increases her confidence. He re-introduces her to her husband and leaves. As he is leaving town he is ambushed by her husbands men and there is a gun-battle. Who lives and who dies?
The Tonto Woman (2008) Trailers
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The Tonto Woman (2008) Reviews
Who is the better Christian?
The Tonto Woman (2007) was directed by Daniel Barber, and is based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. This is an extraordinary short film, and, quite properly, was nominated for an Oscar. Charlotte Asprey plays Sarah Isham--a beautiful woman in the 19th Century west who was kidnapped by Indians, and was horribly mutilated with tattoos (?scars) around her mouth. Her husband, who loved her, has spent 11 years trying to find her. Once he finds her, he's horrified by her appearance and by the fact that she is no longer his pure, virginal wife. Her husband has isolated Sarah in a cabin far from his ranch, where she's ogled by the ranch hands and visited by no one. Francesco Quinn plays Ruben Vega, a Mexican-American cattle rustler who comes across Sarah's cabin, falls in love with her, and then has to decide what is the best way to help her. The movie begins and ends in a small Catholic church, where the priest, a good enough man and sincere churchman, hears Vega's confession. Clearly, Vega, the thief, is the better Christian. We saw this film in a theater. I think it will work on a small screen, but the emptiness of the dry countryside surrounding Sarah's cabin may not be as evident. P.S. Pay close attention to the statue of the Virgin.
Mini Eastwood
A wandering saddle tramp comes upon a woman living in a remote section of the prairie. The wife of a prominent landowner, she was kidnapped by marauding Apaches and held prisoner for over a decade before being rescued. Now adorned with visible reminders of her captivity her husband has chosen to isolate her instead of bringing her back to her rightful home. The saddle tramp befriends her and sets out to right things at his own peril. This atmospheric Western, an abbreviated Eastwood oater, has a real good look, is skillfully shot, has some fine compositions and is dramatically well paced. Where it weakens is in the pivotal meeting scene between husband, wife and drifter which doesn't live up to the dramatic pitch that it has been building. It does however maintain it's good look from start to finish.
Though visually evocative, and well acted, the canned plot line falters.
While the story of "The Tonto Woman" certainly has its place in Leonard's Old-West canon, it fails as a contemporary film to update the rusty wayward-man-saved-by-a-virtuous-woman archetypal narrative. It must be said that the film makes excellent use of shooting locations in the rocky Andalucian canyons to serve as a spare and rugged American West at the cusp of expansion, and that sense of solitude is adroitly transferred onto the title character, marooned as she supposedly is by her unapproachable husband, who lives in an often-gestured-at-but-never-seen big house in the distance. However, as we see in several opening scenes, this woman is much stronger and individualistic than the strong-arming plot has allowed her to be. That is, when the Mojave plan to tattoo her face, she tells them to make it elaborate, not some half-ass dribble; when her husband's henchmen come to scare off her suitor, she gets a gun and drives them off. The plot, though, continues to cast her as the product of some irrevocable sorrow, which can only be healed by a man who affords her the dignity she deserves. But there's the rub: she is well aware of her dignity already. Once we witness this woman's resolve, shouldn't we question why this man needs to show up? Sure, it's a romance, set during a time when women were very often subjugated, but haven't we heard that story a hundred times, and don't we need new ones? This one rapidly becomes a typical masculine fairy tale: The tough cattle rustler buys her a fancy cleavage-revealing dress; she swims and steps from the lake naked before him while he remains fully clothed, and embraces her as if she's weak; in an emotional show-down, he makes her husband see her as worthy. Us men are so strong and resolute! Always! ...But we're not evocative characters. Films like this forget that audiences wish to be surprised by characters that display the complexity of behavior that pushes them beyond character, toward the humane. I can't help but as "what if..." What if the Vega's cattle rustling character was made vulnerable by his love for this woman, so much that HE was the one that went swimming naked while she remained clothed? What if Tonto Woman wasn't so virtuous, if she was a little duplicitous? Of course, then we wouldn't have the mythic story we have, but we might have something that goes beyond merely affirming what we want to believe about people, something that asks us to see human behavior in its true complexity.
Searingly poignant
This film is more-than-perfect adaptation of Elmore Leonard, making only a few small changes that nevertheless even improve on the literary original. Ruben Vega comes across both tough and romantic, a too-well-traveled man whose best and perhaps only chance at love saves a strong, beautiful woman taken for granted by the ignorant men around her. And SHE in turn becomes his salvation. Even if--as may or may not be the case--he pays for this act with his life. The free clips I've seen online hint at how powerful this film is, but its full effect can only be seen by viewing it in its entirety. Do that and it will become apparent it's about the most flawless short ever. No other in the Oscar hunt this year--or almost any other year--is in the same league. Hints at violence here are not only apropos but subtle, while any nudity is even more touching and apropos; if these characters are hinted to "make love," they do justice to the term. A million "clean" films I've seen are infinitely dirtier in their soul.
Great MovieGood film, worth catching if it comes to your city
I also watched this film along with the other Oscar nominated shorts. I was really excited to see that the screenplay was from an Elmore Leonard story. I have not read much of his western books, but if this was a glimpse into that world I will definitely reading some of those books. The short was a tad bit long for a "short film". Sometimes shorts are so long you feel like you got cheated out a a full length feature. Other times shorts are so brief that you feel cheated out of having some closure with the story. I think this film road the line between too long and just right. There are moments that I really did want some more back story. Overall I would say this is my second favorite of the Oscar shorts. By the way I guess some readers/viewers should know that shorts are not usually MPAA rated so you should always assume you might see something "r-rated". In this movie you do see a top half full frontal of a woman. So just breasts. That should not be a big deal, but I guess it is for some. I will say that is is tastefully done and not gratuitous. If you get a chance definitely catch this short.