Screening Reflection
Ride with the Devil, upon first glance, may seem like a movie that doesn’t deserve significant attention. In reality however, it relates to a deeper level with several of the other films that we viewed in class. For me personally, this film was able to relate to all of the other films we viewed in class on multiple levels.
Ang Lee’s films have dealt with a variety of topics in the past. Some of his earlier works that we watched, like Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman, deal with the relationship between tradition and modern ways of thought. Both of the aforementioned films show traditional Confucian family values at risk, and under siege by modern ways of thinking. Generally speaking, Ang Lee’s films seem to take young men or women and place them in situations of conflict, where their traditional heritage and modern ideas go head to head. In Wedding Banquet in particular, ideas about a young man torn between two worlds (modernity and traditionalism) are explored in depth.
Another topic that Ang Lee’s films have explored extensively is hidden emotions. In Brokeback Mountain, for instance, the two main characters are constantly trying to hide or fight their love for one another, for fear that they will be chastised or even harmed. In Hulk, the main character is almost always hiding himself, and hiding his abilities. He fears that his feelings could inflict grave consequences on the people he cares about.
Ride with the Devil, at its core, is a movie about young people trying to grow up in an extremely dangerous time in American history. In my mind, that alone deals with the common themes that run through Ang Lee’s films. For example, throughout the film, characters are faced with situations that force them to deal with the values they were raised on, versus what they believe to be is right, despite its modernity. These same characters also struggle to hide their internal conflicts, which is a similar struggle faced by characters in Ang Lee’s other films. Additionally, the scenes with Holt and Roedel reflect another type of conflict that revolved around traditional schools of thought and new, more modern ideas of tolerance and acceptance: racism. Roedel, with his German roots, faces suspicion from people in the South because Germany supported the Union during the Civil War. A little over halfway into the movie, when Roedel is purposely shot in the leg after the raid on Lawrence while retreating from a counterattack, he begins to further sympathize with Holt, who is a former slave trying to overcome the racism he faces around him. I believe that this scene exemplifies the idea of hiding emotions as well. As he is trying to run away from a war (which could symbolize Roedel trying to run away from his feelings regarding tolerance and acceptance of other minorities) he is wounded simply because he is different. He is not wounded for any other reason aside from his heritage, and I feel that at this point in the movie, he begins to come to terms with his hidden feelings, and he comes to the realization that discrimination at its core is wrong. He begins to accept his heritage in a new way, uniting the concept that traditional lines of thinking and modernity can be united to form a fully fledged mindset.
In conclusion, Ride with the Devil is a movie that unites two themes in Ang Lee’s movies in a way that threads them together. The ideas of traditionalism and modernity, and hiding emotions come together in this beautiful film that really captures the struggle of grappling with ideas of racism and coming to terms with both heritage and new ways of thinking. I believe that this movie really reflects the idea that you can be a forward thinker that is tolerant, and accepting of people from all different backgrounds while still staying true to your heritage and where you came from. Traditionalism and modernity do not have to be entirely separate entities; rather, they can coexist in harmony, and you can be both a forward thinker, while still acknowledging your roots, and your heritage. I appreciate this quality in Ang Lee’s movies, and I think it shines particularly bright in Ride with the Devil.
