NR | 1h 44m | Drama | Jan. 10, 2024
The surprisingly watchable “Somewhere in Montana” has a fun premise: It takes the two most stereotypically, politically, and diametrically opposed men that can possibly exist in America, outfits both with extremely recalcitrant personalities—and smashes them into each other like a couple of Montana Rocky Mountain Bighorn rams.
On the one hand, there’s John Alexander (Graham McTavish), a Pacific Northwest gun-owning conservative Republican manly-man rancher. On the other is Fabian Verdugo (Matt Drago), a progressive, liberal, effeminate Californian filmmaker.
But They Need Each Other
Big John is in danger of losing his ranch during these tough economic times. On his daughter’s advice, he reluctantly agrees to allow a film production company to shoot a period piece about homesteading women in the 1800s on his ranch and surrounding land.
Immediately at Loggerheads
To let everyone know who is boss, John kills one of his steers with a pistol shot to the head, just as the film crew vans arrive. The hyper-controlling John is soon hanging around the set, loudly proclaiming that they better not even think about making a “gay cowboy movie” like “Brokeback Mountain” on his land.
Problem is, that’s pretty much exactly what Fabian is up to. He’s making a feminist film promoting a claim that historically, 80 percent of homesteaders in Montana were single women. All of which is, in Fabian’s words, intended to stick it to the “patriarchy.” Naturally, a couple of the women in the movie appear to be attracted to each other.
Common Ground
If it was just these two stereotypes squabbling all the movie long, it would’ve been a crashing bore, but what keeps one’s interest is that the two leads go much deeper than their outward tropes. Because who else in America would we like to see be able to salvage some kind of common ground? It’s an attempt to span the Grand Canyon. Can it be done?As it turns out, John is at a crossroads. Everything in his life is in flux. His ranch is going under financially, which is bad enough, but there’s also the load of grief he stubbornly carries. John continues to mourn the passing of his beloved wife who died two years earlier, and the burden threatens to overwhelm him.
As a progressive, liberal, gay Californian filmmaker, Fabian feels marginalized by society, and burdened by his obsessive need to be excellent in all his filmmaking endeavors.
An Intervention
John’s got a quiet crew of taciturn, manly, and supportive fishing-and-drinking buddies who normally just stoically let each other stew in their own private thoughts. This includes his Native American buddy and employee Bob (Andrew Roa). Bob eventually insists on and facilitates an intervention of sorts—a time-honored Native American ritual ceremony. Fabian is invited. This scene is the brilliant highlight of the film.Writer-director Brandon Smith has made a captivating and provocative story. Although the acting isn’t top shelf, it’s nonetheless attention-grabbing. We’re currently looking at the great divide of America, and indeed, the world. “Somewhere in Montana” actually offers a solution.
Rotten Tomatoes
What’s interesting is that there are currently only two reviews of “Somewhere in Montana” on Rotten Tomatoes. Don’t people want to see a reconciliation of America’s divided extremes?Perhaps no one’s rating this film for a reason, and John may be partially right. If communism is at work here in this country via Karl Marx’s intentional twisting of leftist ideologies, it aims to keep the two entrenched polarities at each others’ throats: Divide and conquer.
It’s good to remember that Americans built this country on an important premise: many points of view are allowed. The film reminds us that America was always intended to be a country where people could agree to disagree, extend each other an olive branch, and find peace. That’s been our strength in the past.
