The Legend of Tarzan
Director: David Yates
Year: 2016
Rating: 6.0
Even with the generally negative reviews
from critics (movie goers are treating it more kindly), I had to see The
Legend of Tarzan. Like a lot of us I grew up watching the Johnny Weissmuller
Tarzan films in the afternoon on Television and as a child I liked them a
lot. In truth those were very different days and it never occurred to me
to see those films through a racial lens. I just loved the adventure, the
animals, Jane, the flying on the vines and this mysterious unknown land (that
I later learned was Hollywood). I even used to go down to this area nearby
that had a vine over a big drop and fling myself over the abyss (ok not an
abyss but probably a 20-foot drop) and yell at the top of my lungs. My friends
did as well. Tarzan was cool back then. Probably not so much anymore.
Over the past year I have re-watched most
of the Weissmuller films - the first couple are great and then a slow decline
- and it is pretty difficult not to notice that blacks are treated horribly
in the films without exception - either superstitious baggage carriers who
run at the first sign of danger or villainous cruel tribes who are intent
on killing Jane in various ways from boiling her alive to splitting her into
two with the old tree trick. Of course, Tarzan usually accompanied by a herd
of elephants comes in the nick of time to stomp them all to death. In truth,
generally greedy white people intruding into the jungle looking for gold
or ivory or diamonds is what causes all the problems. It is a moral fable
of innocence lost. At the end almost everyone is dead except Tarzan and his
family and they go back to their lives of blissful living until the next
white people show up and the cycle begins again.
Clearly in these days that stereotyping
will not do, so The Legend of Tarzan tries to reverse this by portraying
all the blacks as noble and sacrificing - which is clearly just as disingenuous.
But the inherent problem with Tarzan is that at the center of the film you
have to have a white man solving all the problems that the blacks are unable
to do themselves. It is hard to avoid this even though the film does try
to have them be more active collaborators. There is as I learned recently
even a term for this sort of film - The White Savior films - and so even
with their best intentions it is difficult not to look at this film through
a politically correct prism and say - oh, here we go again.
Taking all that into account, the film is
not as bad as the critics seem to think in my opinion - lots of CGI flying,
a fair amount of action, no CGI animals hurt in filming - and it does have
a few interesting aspects that are based on history and even on the Tarzan
books. In the film Tarzan (now living in England) is persuaded by George
Washington Williams (played by Samuel Jackson) to go with him to the Belgian
Congo because Williams suspects slavery is taking place and he wants proof.
Now interestingly in the first Tarzan book, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice
Burroughs, it is Tarzan's father and mother who go to the Belgian Congo to
investigate possible wrongs to the locals where he ends up in the jungle
with his pregnant wife to fend for himself. Also of interest is that the
character that Samuel Jackson plays was a real person and the story he tells
of his life in the film is completely accurate. Williams was born in 1849
a free man and during his lifetime he fought in the Civil War (at the age
of 14), later fought in Mexico and then against the Indians. After this he
became a reporter and he went to the Belgian Congo in 1890 and issued a report
on the deplorable conditions of the natives. He was to die soon afterwards
in England from illnesses. The Belgians often get a pass because they make
such great chocolate but of all the evil imperialists, they are heads above
the rest. So knowing that gives the film at least some historical context.
Alexander Skarsgar, son of Stellan, plays Tarzan with abs so tight I can't
believe he didn't just explode. Margot Robie is Jane and Christopher Waltz
is the villain. Is there an Oscar for Best Abs?
