December 21, 2017
MarkBernstein.org
 

Godless

This fascinating Netflix miniseries by Scott Frank examines the West as it would be experienced by a 19th century frontier town that is populated with modern women. Almost all the men of La Belle, New Mexico have been killed in a mine accident, and the surviving men are a blind sheriff, a deputy who is far too young and too easy to bruise, a preacher who has mysteriously vanished en route to the territory, and a cadre of retired buffalo soldiers a few miles away. The women run things and they do it well; they understand feminism. They’re racially tolerant and understand the complexity of sexual orientation: they’re not the women of history but they act as we might (hope to) act in the face of adversity.