A sublime image

I was watching Once Upon a Time in the West again last night and was really struck by this image, of Cheyenne looking out the window of the McBain homestead at the construction of Sweetwater by a mass of nameless, faceless labourers. With the narrower vista of the window frame within the screen frame, it just seemed to perfectly encapsulate the themes of the film – the end of the old west and the beginning of a new one, and the triumph of history, woman and “ultimate man” over myth and “superman”.