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Araceli Nunez

16 May 2017

Mrs. Terry

U.S. History, B3

The Last of the Mohicans. Dir. Michael Mann. Perf. Eric Schweig, Daniel Day-Lewis,
Russell Means, Madeleine Stowe . GoMovies. N.p., n.d.
In 1757, the French and Indian war is still a relatively young battle between the British

and the French. During this time in Albany, New York the French are attacking a Fort William

Henry, a British outpost overseen by Colonel Munro (Maurice Roeves). Munro has two

daughters (Jodhi May and Madeleine Stowe) on their way to visit him and are escorted by a

British major (Steven Waddington) and a Huron native (Wes Studi). They are ambushed by a

group of natives and are rescued by the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis, Russell Means, Eric

Schweig). When the group finally reaches the fort, it is under attack by the French and its native

allies. Then they realize there has been a flaw in communication, costing them recruitments and

causing them to let the soldiers leave. Once the group begins the journey back home they are

ambushed again. Munro is killed in the conflict, and a few compromises and life or death

situations later, only Hawkeye, Cora and Chingachgook remain. With this short chain of events,

the movie spans two hours and stretches out every event to its full potential, a few historical hits

and misses and the movie is a decent reproduction of the book and movies of the same name

before it.

1757, the British and French have been at war for roughly three years, about one year

officially. The colonists and natives forced to choose sides, the natives allying with both the

French and British, while the colonists are conflicted. The three men making up the Mohicans,
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Uncas, Chingachgook and Hawkeye (the adopted white son), visit the colonists and become

aware that they are recruiting volunteers to fight for the British army in hopes that their homes

will be safe against the Hurons, a group of natives fighting for the French.

Two women, Alice and Cora Munro are being led to their father Colonel Munro by a

native named Magua and British major Heyward after receiving a notice to meet up at Fort

William Henry. While they are on the trek, Magua peaks in his native tongue a few times and

expresses his dislikeness towards the British as the three europeans remain unaware. Suddenly,

Magua walks behind the group and they are ambushed by a group of Hurons. With a weirdly

perfect timing, Uncas, Chingachgook and Hawkeye show up and rescue the women and

Heyward. Before fleeing, Magua attempts to harm Cora for an unknown and speculated reason.

As the short battles commotion and feelings of surprise and shock wear off, the three men

decide they will escort them the rest of the way to Fort William Henry. On their way, they pass

the mens colonists friends home and become aware that the houses have been burnt and

everyone murdered. A war party had already passed through, realizing this Hawkeye decides

against burying the colonists, much to the opposition of Cora. Later at night as Cora and

Hawkeye bond over understanding of each other and a story about stars, Hawkeye explains if he

had buried the people properly, it would give off their path and someone could tail them.

They arrive the next day at the fort, only to find it under siege by the French. After

making their way in, Alice and Cora are reunited with their Dad where they discover that he

never sent a notice to meet up with them and that Magua set it up. He also realizes that his

request for more aid has not gone through and has only 3 days at best to win or stay alive. After

this revelation, Hawkeye informs Munro of the murder of innocent colonists at the frontier but

Munro does not show any concern, angering his militia that then wish to protect their families
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and return their home. However, Munro does not let this occur. The next day, it is revealed that

Maguas children died in an attack ordered by Munro and Magua was forced into slavery. When

Magua managed to escape slavery, he returned to his wife only to find her married to another as

she had believed he was dead. Then in the same day, Cora rejects Heywards proposal. Hawkeye

and Cora kiss as Cora realizes she is falling in love with him. Although it is going well for

Hawkeye in terms of romance, he is soon found to have enabled some colonists to escape the fort

and is condemned to death. Soon, the French are outweighing the number of British soldiers in

their own fort and Munro is forced to surrender. As the Brits abandon the fort and are returning

home, they are ambushed by Hurons led by Magua. Magua murders Munro and threatens his

daughters lives. Chingachgook frees his son and together they take the girls and Heyward to

brief safety broken by their capture by the Hurons who take them to their village. Hawkeye

pleads with the tribes Sachem to really listen to what Magua is suggesting, proposing that he is

thinking for his own benefit and not the tribes. Sachem decides that Cora shall be burned alive,

Alice will become Maguas bride, Heyward returned to the British and Hawkeye can be released

because he was so brave. However, this does not sit well with Hawkeye and he wants to switch

places with Cora. Heyward mistranslated (on purpose) Hawkeyes wish and says that he will

take Coras place instead.

Hawkeye shoots Heyward to spare him pain from being burnt to death. Uncas runs off

after the Hurons in an attempt to save Alice but Magua slits his throat and throws him off of a

cliff. Alice throws herself off of the cliff as well, leaving behind only Cora, Hawkeye and

Chingachgook. Chingachgook beats Magua and kills him before going through a ritual/ceremony

for Uncas. After the ceremony, Chingachgook says the land is not for his people anymore and

tells his beloved in the stars to wait patiently for him to arrive with them. Last of the Mohicans
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gives a simplified version of what happened during the Seven Years War. The movie turns out to

focus more on the romance that occurred between Cora and Hawkeye as well as Alice and

Uncas. Granted, intermarriage was a big part of how natives and colonists intertwined but it was

more often than not, the Spanish who intermarried with natives. Not only does it oversimplify

the war, it created small issues that did not exist in the actual historical accounts. For example,

when recruiting for the war efforts there was no shortage of volunteers and Munro did not

actually have any daughters. In relation to American history, the French and Indian war

ultimately led to the American Revolution. Disputes between Great Britain and the colonists over

frontier policies and expenses of the war, greatly increased the amount of dissatisfaction from

colonists towards the British.

The Last of the Mohicans was a mediocre movie. Personally, I wished for a broader span

of time to be encompassed in the movie and to focus less on the romance although they were

helpful to setting the plot. The movie also lost a few points due to the fact that it was based less

on the book than on the 1936 version of the movie, which either way a white man is still the

focus of the movie. Uncas, Magua and Chingachgook seemed to not only speak less but be less

of focus in the movie than the adopted white son, which was not surprising given the time period

the story comes from but nevertheless, it was upsetting. The movie can kind of be used to

analyze history and the relationships between colonists and the British, natives and europeans

and natives with colonists but really it does not have as much historical accuracy and focus as it

needs to be higher than a 6.5 on a scale of 10. I would not recommend the movie to those

interested in learning about the war or any relationships covered in the movie, it would be more

of a fun movie to watch rather than to use for research.

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Works Cited
The Last of the Mohicans. Dir. Michael Mann. Perf. Eric Schweig, Daniel Day-Lewis,

Russell Means, Madeleine Stowe . GoMovies. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May 17.

<https://gomovies.to/film/the-last-of-the-mohicans-5681/>.

"The Last of the Mohicans (1992)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 18 May 2017.