In The Unholy Trinity, buried secrets of an 1870s Montana town spark violence when a young man returns to reclaim his legacy. Source: Australian Catholics.
While the title has a risky religious overtone, Trinity is the name of this Western’s fictional town. Some of the action does take place in a church but the film’s issues are not religious.
The film opens with a hanging. Watching the execution is the criminal’s son, Henry Broadway (Lessard), who is urged by his father to take revenge on his enemy. Also watching the execution, with a broad grin at the death, is St Christopher (Jackson).
The scenery is impressive and the plot, while not unfamiliar, carries us along with the character developments and the twists. It is a surprise to find Brosnan as the local sheriff Gabriel Dove, who is determined to maintain order.
When the young man arrives at Trinity, he gradually learns about his father who was involved in a gold robbery at the time of the Civil War. Much of the story is explained by the father’s then partner, St Christopher, who at the time was a slave.
One of the difficulties of seeing Jackson as the bad guy is that we have liked him in so many films that we have to make an effort to accept his villainous behaviour.
So, where is the gold? Possibly buried under one of the buildings in the town? We are shown the usual life in the frontier town, the gunslingers and their anger, the saloon and its manager and the gamblers, the girls upstairs and prostitution, clashes with the Native Americans, killings and vengeance.
This film could have been made at any time over the past decades, but here we are with a 2020s Western. Writer Lee Zachariah and director Richard Gray, both Australian, seem to have absorbed the traditions and conventions of the Western.
Review by Fr Peter Malone MSC, Jesuit Media.
The Unholy Trinity: Starring Pierce Brosnan, Samuel L Jackson, Brandon Lessard. Directed by Richard Gray. 93 minutes. Rated MA (Strong violence).
FULL REVIEW
The Unholy Trinity (Australian Catholics)
