The Dead Don’t Hurt (2023) – A Quiet Western About Quiet Strength

Film Review: The Dead Don’t Hurt (2023)

Directed by Viggo Mortensen

You probably missed this one. Most people did. But The Dead Don't Hurt is the kind of film that lingers like a distant memory—faint, melancholic, and oddly warm.

Directed by Viggo Mortensen, this slow-burning Western doesn’t care much for shootouts or spectacle. Instead, it builds a world on silence, stares, and the moral weight of choices. It's the kind of film that’s not in a rush to impress you. It just... sits there. And waits.

Set in a dusty, unnamed town during the 1860s, the film follows Vivienne Le Coudy (played with deep, earthy grace by Vicky Krieps), a woman who chooses independence over convention in a place where that costs everything. Mortensen plays her partner, Holger Olsen, a Danish immigrant who leaves for war, leaving her to face the creeping rot of the town alone.

The narrative isn’t linear. Time bends. The film opens on tragedy, then circles backward, peeling layers off its characters like sun-bleached paint. There's a quiet rage simmering beneath every frame—about corruption, about cowardice, about what men are allowed to do and what women are forced to endure.

The cinematography is stunning in that muted, painterly way—like every shot was dipped in sepia and left out to dry. The landscapes don’t scream “look at me,” but they ache with loneliness. The score, composed by Mortensen himself, is sparse and haunting, like distant thunder rolling over the plains.

It won’t be for everyone. The pacing is glacial. The violence, when it comes, is brutal but brief. But if you have patience—and you listen—The Dead Don’t Hurt offers something rare: a Western that’s not about the myth of the frontier, but the people quietly buried beneath it.

It’s not flashy. It won’t trend. But it deserves more than silence.

Verdict: Watch it when the world feels too loud.
Where to find it: Streaming may be spotty; check for limited releases or indie platforms.
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 – for those who like their Westerns introspective and emotionally raw)

 

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