Hell or High Water, the sleeper movie of the summer, hopes to carry its momentum into contention for the fall awards season, but the backlash against the film for daring to feature characters who are not always politically correct is also in full swing.
The film features Chris Pine and Ben Foster as down-on-their-luck brothers who turn to bank robbery in Midland, Texas. Jeff Bridges plays retiring Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton, who is on their trail, together with his partner Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), who is part Mexican, part Comanche.
While trying to solve the case, Hamilton passively-aggressively taunts Parker about his heritage. During one tirade about Comanche Indians, Parker points out he is part Mexican. Hamilton responds: “Well, I’m gonna get to that when I’m through with the Indian insults. But it’s gonna take a while.”
Eventually the soft-spoken Parker informs his partner that banks are now taking land from white people in the same way that white people took land away from Native Americans.
The movie sets out to reflect real life and does so admirably. Indeed Heat Street‘s Stephen Miller called Hell or High Water “the best film of 2016.”
But some social justice warriors who have seen the film are up in arms at the racial barbs—despite the fact that the gruff-cop-speaking-plainly is a cinematic staple, and David Mackenzie’s movie in no way condones Bridges’ character’s forthright musings:
Whelp, Hell or High Water is a racist piece of shit. That was disappointing.
— J.J. Anselmi (@JJ_Anselmi) September 12, 2016
Jeff Bridges was a parody of himself in hell or high water and his racist “jokes” was lazy writing https://t.co/M4sqVkRpVD
— Jay Fisher (@jamesclarence) September 15, 2016
you’d probably like hell or high water if your a white conservative who loves guns and being racist.
— dom (@ddomoe) September 4, 2016
@gilbirmingham Sorry you had to endure all the racist insults in Hell or High Water. I wanted to leave the theatre, I stayed because you did
— N Shannacappo (@NShannacappo) August 31, 2016
HELL OR HIGH WATER, I didn’t like it. Narratively I really don’t really care that much about the plight of racist cowboys.
— Boogie (@Boogieknight) August 4, 2016
The blogosphere has also weighed in. Bryan Bliss writing for pop culture website The Stake says the film supplies “another example of a white writer downplaying the reality of racism. Because while this back-and-forth might be seen as ‘affectionate’ to white people, the day-to-day reality of women and men of color is cheapened for a few throwaway jokes.”
And then there’s the fact that a film about brothers and Texas Rangers happens to be a very male tale. Over to Anna Klessen at Bustle: “Here is a story that features some of the most intriguing, complex characters presented all year, but none of them are women. Sure, there are women in the film, but each and every one of them represents a tired, archaic archetype.”
She pinpoints the bank-robbing scenes as epitomizing the movie’s misogyny: “While many of the men working at or frequenting the banks attempt to stop the brothers from getting away with the cash—with their guns or fists—the women fall to the floor, shaking and clutching their bosoms, utterly disturbed.”
In his Heat Street review of the film, Stephen Miller opens by noting, “There are films that exist solely for the purpose of being made for the times we live in.” The objections to the film reinforce this sentiment.
