Walker

William Walker, and his belief in manifest destiny - the American practice of continental expansion - are at the core of Alex Cox’s satire of a 19th century American legend. A gang of incompetent American troops, led by Walker, head south from San Francisco to liberate Nicaragua from its oppressive president. Corneilius Vanderbuilt, a tycoon millionaire, funds the mission, but feels Walker’s naive, albeit charismatic, character will ensure stability in the Central American state controlling the Pacific-Atlantic trade. Walker embodies the religious and puritanical traits of manifest destiny and is filled with notions of self-importance and historical greatness. Walker is oblivious to the barbarity of his own troops and their thirst for sex and violence; ironically the behaviour of his men epitomizes the false image that Walker holds of the savages. When Nicaragua is won Walker places a patriot as President; he appoints himself General of the armed forces and, in an act that summarizes the history of the South America, stages a coup against his own government. Dreamlike scenes of slow-motion bloody violence are complimented by Ed Harris’ ability to shift between dry deadpan humour and frenzied evangelical prophesising. Melding past and future images of soldiers, Cox presents a powerful non-linear twist on history, suggesting a potent link between manifest destiny and Reaganism. Cast includes Richard Masur, Rene Assa, Rene Auberjonois, Peter Boyle.