The film opens with a young black man (Edge) ransacking the New York City home of an elderly woman (Angela), searching for her old gold coin.
He soon discovers she’s quite capable of handling herself. She breaks his nose; then forces him to listen to the story about how she wound up with that cache of gold coins.
Back at the turn of the century, there were two cowboys, brothers Luke and Elijah.
They fought over a whore (Lilith), whom Elijah married.
That didn’t keep Luke from bedding, then abandoning her after she’d fallen for him.
Luke — as is oft repeated in the film — could kill but he couldn’t love.
Lilith, pregnant probably with Luke’s child, kills herself.
Faced with a 20th century he can’t understand, Luke flees to Europe where he hires out as a mercenary in the Turkish Civil War.
Elijah, left with a dead wife, follows, intent on revenge.
Joseph Fiennes as Elijah in Dust (2001)
David Wenham as Luke in Dust (2001)
Review:
Stylish. Violent. Bizarre. And definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. Oh, and it’s barely a Western.
Adrian Lester and Rosemary Murphy turn in solid performances in the more current scenes. Luke isn’t quite as convincing as the baby-faced killer during the flashbacks.
But if you’re into beheadings, disembowelings and a body count that would make any Spaghetti Western proud (no, this really doesn’t resemble one), then you might enjoy this. For other viewers, worth watching once, not twice.
Rosemary Murphy as Angela in Dust (2002)
Adrian Lester as Edge in Dust (2001)
Directed by:
Milcho Manchevski
Cast:
Joseph Fiennes … Elijah
David Wenham … Luke
Adrian Lester … Edge
Anne Brochet … Lilith
Nikolina Kujaca … Neda
Rosemary Murphy … Angela
Salaetin Bilal … The Major
Murphy Vlado … Teacher
Runtime: 127 min.
Anne Brochet as Lilith in Dust (2001)
Nikolina Kujaca as Neda in Dust (2001)
Memorable lines:
Angela, holding a gun on her potential robber: “Pleased to meet you, cupcake.”
Angela, about Luke: “He wasn’t ready for the new century. And the new century wasn’t ready for him. It ran him over like a miserable road kill.”
Angela: “The gangs screwed the regular folk worst than the Sultan did. Some fought for freedom. Some fought for land. Some fought for God. But everybody liked gold.”
Edge: “You alive, Prune?”
Angela: “No, I’m dead, and you’re God.”
Luke to Elijah: “Spare me the sermon. Just shoot.”
Salaetin Bilal as the Major in Dust (2001)
Murphy Vlado as Teacher in Dust (2001)
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