HEAVEN'S GATE

This film’s elaborate staging and ballooning costs nearly ruined director Michael Cimino. His late-period Western tells the story of Eastern European immigrants at the close of the 19th century confronted with more than just the raw wilderness of Wyoming – they are also up against the forces of xenophobia, a struggle which climaxes in deadly violence. This rage is directed at them by those who themselves once left home to make their way to North America. In the midst of this wider showdown, we find trigger-happy Champion and upstanding Averill, fighting on opposite sides and for the favour of the same lady to boot. Originally panned by the critics, HEAVEN’S GATE has gone on to attain cult status for daring to take an unflinching look at the American foundational myth and the arbitrariness that prejudice can spawn.