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Thunderheart: (James Horner) In a fictional
representation of events that occurred on a South Dakota Native American
reservation in the 1970's, director Michael Apted and writer John Rusco
provide one of the most authentic depictions of reservation lifestyles
in Hollywood's history. In real life, a militant group called "American
Indian Movement" defied the FBI with violent results, though in
Thunderheart, the formula has been twisted to include a
conspiracy to steal land from the Native Americans. A murder mystery
erupts from these actions, and it gives Val Kilmer the chance for one of
his best career performances. His depiction of a conservative, clean-cut
FBI agent with a fair amount of attitude is challenged by his quarter
Indian heritage, and the plot explores his slowly-developing mystical
visions of ghost dancers as he is eventually forced to choose between
the law and the Native Americans. A fine film in all regards, the
project would mark the third and final collaboration between Apted and
composer James Horner. A work of intellectual prowess superior to both
Gorky Park in 1983 and
Class Action in 1991,
Thunderheart would be a strictly small-scale score from Horner,
who was in the process of slowly phasing out his electronics-only
ensembles in favor of more orchestrally robust recordings at the time.
Not only would
Thunderheart be among the last synthetic Horner
works, it exhibited a maturity of heart and substance that was often
absent from his mundane synthetic scores of the past. From
The Name
of the Rose to
Vibes,
Unlawful Entry, and
Class
Action, Horner's largely electronic scores have alternated between
disappointing boredom and fatal schizophrenia. While the instrumentation
is even more singular than usual in
Thunderheart, Horner
fine-tunes his approach with superb subtly that spices up an otherwise
basic atmospheric effort. The aforementioned moments during which
Kilmer's FBI character witnesses ghost dancing in the distance of the
beautiful prairies inspired Horner to use Indian chanting as a distinct
instrumental element in the score, one that gives this score a sense of
ethnic authenticity sadly absent from his later, somewhat generic music
for the similarly Native American-involved
Windtalkers.
With the sounds of the Native American chants mixed up
front and throughout
Thunderheart, you hear an authenticity that
is a crucial and intriguing aspect of the film. Another integral element
of the score is the shakuhachi flute, ranging in contribution from
strikingly harsh stingers to rhythmically enchanting flow. This score
represented one of the first times Horner experimented with using the
flute (already established as an accent in several of his previous
efforts) as a pace-setting tool of rhythm in the kind of way that
listeners would eventually hear in
Legends of the Fall and
numerous other works. Along with a powerful mixing of drum pads, this
rhythm eventually explodes in the powerful finale, "Run for the
Stronghold," a highlight of the score. Other elements in
Thunderheart worth mentioning are an extension of the lonely
piano solos heard in much of Horner's work at the time, as well as a
deep synthetic bass that occasionally drones with the same impact as in
Vibes and
Class Action. These sounds are presented with a
slightly wetter than usual mixing quality, meaning that the score echoes
more than other purely atmospheric Horner scores. With the flute often
trailing off in extended single blasts, this echoing nature heightens
the mysticism of the Indian culture during the many magical moments in
the film. There is almost no thematic material even hinted at until the
FBI character finally embraces his roots at the end of the story. After
the monumental "Stronghold" cue, Horner establishes a slowly realized
but elegant synthesizer theme for five minutes, aided by outstanding
flute accents on key visual shifts in the film. The finale of the score
is without much of the Indian chanting, which is an integral part of the
entire package, but the last two cues nevertheless are the appealing duo
on the album, with an alternation between the throaty pipe-like rhythms
and the respectful theme. If you appreciate Horner's minimalistic
efforts, then
Thunderheart could very well be the champion of
that group. Even for those collectors who typically prefer the
composer's larger orchestral works,
Thunderheart has enough
interesting development to bridge the gap between that bombast and a
purely intellectual environment. It also stands as one of Horner's most
surprisingly effective and important scores in context, a triumph of
ethnic restraint. The album presentation will require a significant
amount of patience, though, and a viewing of the film is perhaps
recommended before seeking the relatively rare product.
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The insert includes the following note from James Horner written in March, 1992:
"In providing the score for Thunderheart, director Michael Apted
and I wanted to include Native American sounds but realized that the
picture would also need a somewhat mainstream approach to keep things
accessible to the audience. The results brought singers and players of
Native American music in a fusion with the electronic ensemble.
The allowed me to give the score several moments of complexity,
reflection, even mysticism, and still remain appropriate for the
picture."
