In Unforgiven, Sheriff Little Bill Daggett doesn’t allow guns in the town of Big Whiskey. This is ironic for a couple of reasons. First, the year is 1881, and Big Whiskey is part of the old Wild West, where guns are just a part of daily life. The era of the Old West is coming to a close; but for the moment it still exists; and where it exists, there are weapons. Second, the film is super quick to show its viewers that one doesn’t need a gun to commit an atrocious act of violence. When a couple of cowboys disfigure (with a knife) the face of a Big Whiskey prostitute, their heinous act sets in motion a series of violent encounters, namely between Little Bill and several gunfighters who come to town to enact a revenge killing on the cowboys and collect the $1,000 reward promised by the prostitutes to whomever can accomplish the task.

In short, while the heavily armed Little Bill and his men prohibit others from carrying guns, those others find themselves at the mercy of a corrupt system of law enforcement in which those who have the weapons make the rules, decide who is guilty/innocent, and assault anyone they please (once they’ve confirmed that their victims are weaponless and helpless, of course).

Into this mess ride Bill Munny, his old partner Ned Logan, and his new partner the Schofield Kid. Back in the day, Munny and Ned were heavy drinkers and prolific killers. But after both men married, their lives changed dramatically–especially Munny’s. Now a middle-aged widower with two young children, Munny tells everyone how his wife had helped him transform his life. He insists that he doesn’t drink anymore because each evil, violent act he committed in the past had been a result of his drunkenness (His “drink made me do it” defense is put on a bit thick, in my opinion). When the Kid shows up at Munny’s house because he’s heard and believed the stories about Munny’s expertise at killing people, Munny is hesitant to go along with the Kid’s plan to seek out and kill the Big Whiskey cowboys. But the reward money calls to him; and although he has no personal connection to the wronged woman, he recruits Ned and heads off to Big Whiskey, a choice that hints that Munny might not be as changed as he keeps claiming he is.

We viewers become especially convinced that something is truly lacking morally in Munny when (spoiler alert!) he takes the rifle from Ned, who can’t bring himself to shoot the cowboys, and deliberately aims and fires repeatedly at the more innocent cowboy. Munny hasn’t been drinking alcohol this time, and it isn’t his possessing a gun that makes him do it. Though he yells to the other cowboys to comfort their mortally wounded comrade in his last moments, his minor compassion comes too late. Munny still does the deed–seemingly just for the money–and he helps the Kid pursue and execute the second guilty cowboy as well.

At this point in the film, what we get from the Kid, an irascible, obnoxious, bloodthirsty character for most of the movie, is what we originally thought we would get from the “reformed” Munny. The Kid is dramatically affected by his first kill. He tries to express his regret to Munny: “It don’t seem real… how he ain’t gonna never breathe again, ever… how he’s dead. And the other one too. All on account of pulling a trigger.” Munny replies (and please excuse the profanity), “It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have.” Both men make note of the power inherent in holding a gun, but the Kid feels the great weight of responsibility for the life of his fellow man and is so sickened by what he’s done that he refuses his share of the reward money and leaves Munny to seek revenge on Little Bill, who has killed Ned.

It is in this last scene, Munny’s revenge quest, that his true nature is revealed. Little Bill and his cronies are celebrating what they see as their elimination of all the “rabble” in the town, so they are unprepared when Munny–drunk and armed with the Kid’s gun–walks into the saloon and promises vengeance on them all. Little Bill then asks Munny to identify himself as the man who had killed women and child in the past; and without hesitation, Munny does. No more does he blame his past on liquor or claim that his wife had changed him before her premature death. Instead, he seems to become his real self. As he blows away one man after the next, his aim is perfect, his demeanor is calm, and his mercy is non-existent. Leaving behind the carnage in the saloon and venturing out into the storm, he threatens all the townspeople, ” All right, I’m coming out. Any man I see out there, I’m gonna shoot him…I’m not only gonna kill him, but I’m gonna kill his wife, all his friends, and burn his…house down.” Now Munny has the gun and dictates everyone else’s behavior.

For Me Then…

Each time someone storms into a school, business, house of worship, etc. and employs guns to kill innocent people, it seems that the same few questions are bounced around in the news, on social media, and in our everyday conversations: Who has the right to own a gun? Or, who has the right to use a gun, and when should a gun be used? Better yet, why does/should one use a gun? Unforgiven asks these questions too, but its ending with Munny’s successful and bloody revenge quest, something that will cement both his legend and the eternal blackness of his soul, muddies the waters of the gun control debate: Sure, guns are dangerous, but how was Munny supposed to protect himself against the corrupt and armed Little Bill unless he had a weapon of equal or greater fire power?

Furthermore, the film actually draws parallels between Munny and Little Bill. In addition to the fact that they share the same first name, both characters emphasize (in very similar language) that it takes a certain something to look down the barrel of a gun at one’s fellow man/woman and pull the trigger. That “something” is definitely not a positive thing, as we see after the Kid’s killing of the cowboy. It doesn’t seem to matter if the one who is armed is also wearing a badge of authority or not. One man can be as corrupt as the next, and it is the inside of a man that determines if/how he uses a weapon–whether that weapon is a gun or a knife or his own fist. It also doesn’t seem to make a difference if one kills a scum bag or an innocent bystander. The act of eliminating another person–whoever that person is and whether or not his/her death is justifiable–is something that scars the soul forever.

With all its storytelling of gun-slinging legends (there is a lot of emphasis on myth and reputation in the film), Unforgiven does the opposite of glorify gun violence. Even though Munny “gets aways with” his revenge killings at the close of the film, we know what his final end will be because before he dies Little Bill tells Munny that he will see him in Hell–and Munny agrees that this will be so. Both men are killers, one “legally” and the other not so much. But both are unforgiven because they are unrepentant of their crimes. Taking a human life–in any way, says the film–is so atrocious an act that there is no real hope for those who dare to do so, for those who can pull the trigger.

In real life, on the contrary, there is hope for people to escape their evil pasts and corrupt presents. Jesus Christ offers new life to those who are truly repentant of the bad deeds they have done. Munny doesn’t find this freedom from his past, though for most of the film he believes he has. The problem is that he has put his faith in people–in his wife to reform him and in himself to be able to resist the temptation to drink and kill–in order to turn his life around. But his wife dies, and his humanity is weak. He can’t save himself, and in the end he owns–and revels in–the actuality of what the legends say about him: he is brutal, murderous, and self-condemned–regardless of his weapon of choice.