Eureka Blu-ray Film Review

The Great Silence (1968) • Limited Edition Blu-ray [Eureka! Masters of Cinema]

A mute gunfighter defends a young widow and a group of outlaws against a gang of bounty killers in the winter of 1898…

If The Great Silence / Il Grande Silzenzio could be summed up in a single word, that word would be… bleak. I wouldn’t be the first to say so, either! Considered by many to be amongst the greatest Spaghetti Westerns ever made, writer-director Sergio Corbucci’s dark opus is certainly a stand-out, if not unique, example of the genre. When I say ‘dark’, though, I don’t mean visually; immediately, the glaring starkness of its snowbound setting marks it aside from the typical dusty desert backdrop one expects from the genre. However, its central strength lies in ticking nearly all the other Spaghetti Western tropes, whilst becoming increasingly unpredictable and building toward a shockingly uncompromising finale.

I would only recommend this film to people who are in an emotionally robust mood, but for western aficionados it’s required viewing. This beautiful…