Anne Feinsilber's evocative documentary "Requiem for Billy the Kid," in the Camera d'Or section, is a treat for fans of western movies and anyone interested in myths of the Old West.
Narrated mostly by Kris Kristofferson, the film combines glorious images of present-day New Mexico, black-and-white photographs from the 1880s and clips from Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" as it attempts to solve one of the enduring legends of the dangerous land west of the Pecos.
History has it that Sheriff Pat Garrett, a reformed villain, gunned down William Bonney, also known as Billy the Kid, at Fort Sumner, where his grave has a much-visited marker. Some say, however, that the friendship between Garrett and Bonney led the lawman to let the outlaw go and another man's body lies beneath his headstone.
Could Billy the Kid have lived to see two world wars and driven a car? Feinsilber sets out to discover the truth and she finds several people in New Mexico whose grandparents were said to have known Bonney. Competing factions would like to exhume the bodies of Billy and his mother Catherine, who died of tuberculosis when Billy was 14, in order to prove once and for all when he died. Such myths fuel tourism, however, and the mystery has remained unsolved.
Billy's real name was Henry Antrim, but after his father died he became William Bonney and acquired his more famous moniker. Kristofferson's endearing growl makes his youthful features from the Peckinpah film all the more poignant as Billy's saga unfolds and they combine with Claire Diterzi's atmospheric music to give added resonance to a story well told.