Product Description

Inspired by Dee Brown's acclaimed bestseller the HBO Films event begins powerfully with the Sioux triumph over General Custer at Little Big Horn. The action centers on the struggles of three characters: Charles Eastman (Adam Beach FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS) a young Dartmouth-educated Sioux doctor; Sitting Bull (August Schellenberg THE NEW WORLD) the proud Lakota chief who refuses to submit to U.S. government policies designed to strip his people of their identity dignity and sacred land; and Senator Henry Dawes (Aidan Quinn EMPIRE FALLS) one of the men responsible for the government policy on Indian affairs. While Eastman and schoolteacher Elaine Goodale (Anna Paquin X-MEN: THE LAST STAND) work to improve life for the Sioux on the reservation Senator Dawes lobbies President Grant for kinder Indian treatment. Epic in scope BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE is a new Western classic called "...insightful...deeply affecting...visually striking" by The Washington Post.Running Time: 132 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359422126 Manufacturer No: 94221

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1992 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2007-09-11
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.25 pounds
• Running time: 132 minutes

Amazon.com
With an acceptable balance of strengths and weaknesses, HBO's revisionist rendition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee can be recommended as a very basic (if slightly inaccurate) history lesson for younger viewers. It doesn't flinch from the harsh realities that were so passionately chronicled in author Dee Alexander Brown's enduring 1970 classic of Native American history, nor does it soften the brutality of violence between the U.S. federal forces and the doomed Native American tribes who fought to preserve their native territories, from the legendary battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 (depicted in the opening scenes) to the shameful slaughter of Sioux warriors at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on December 29, 1890. Originally broadcast on May 27, 2007, and running slightly over two hours, this U.S./Canadian coproduction struggles to tell a story that would've been better served by a full-length miniseries (and will surely disappoint anyone familiar with Brown's important book), and the screenplay is so busy giving us a Cliff's Notes version of history that it lacks any particular focus or consistent point of view. Instead, we get a sobering, noble, and heartbreaking tale of territorial injustice, with forced parallels to the war in Iraq, full of admirable performances yet riddled with clichés and anachronistic details.

If you look closer, however, you'll find much to admire: Although his character was dubiously conceived to appeal to a contemporary white audience, Adam Beach (from Flags of Our Fathers) gives a fine performance as Charles Eastman, a Sioux doctor integrated into white society, who grows increasingly conflicted by the plight of his people. He's the tragic embodiment of the faulty ideals of Senator Dawes (Aidan Quinn), whose governmental effort to assimilate Native Americans leads to disastrous outbreaks of violence, depicted here with blunt-force realism. As Eastman's sympathetic and upright wife (a white schoolteacher with a strong sense of conscience), Anna Paquin makes the most of an underwritten role, and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is an impressive showcase for outstanding native American actors like August Schellenberg (as Sitting Bull) and Gordon Tootoosis (as Red Cloud), who bring obvious authority and conviction to their roles. The film is most effective when addressing the inevitable failure of the white man's well-meaning but ultimately misguided policies toward Native Americans. To the extent that we still struggle with the historical legacy of those policies, this flawed but instructional rendition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee can be viewed as a compact precursor to deeper historical study. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Painful watch.
This well made docu-drama was painful watch as the saga reveals stages of one of the most hideous dealings with a proud culture in American history. After the battle at Little Big Horn where Custer makes a touchy situation far worse, treaty after treaty is broken and a young Sioux doctor is forced to bear witness to the unfair treatment and tragedies experienced by his people. Great performances and the old photos that periodically move across the screen bring an added heart-wrenching portrayal to the viewer of a proud people who were reduced to desperation.

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

Not like the book.
This movie is not like the book and they explain why in the special features. The book is various accounts put together to make a book. The movie has a solid storyline. There are two profanity spots very near the begining that are extreme and not needed. What a tragedy! I am saddened by the history of the Native Americans. This movie is part of a great story of injustice that will never be made right.

Misses the point
As some other reviewers have mentioned, this movie just does not live up to the title. If a person is a student of this time period, they may be able to follow the movie. If not, its nothing more than a Hollywood movie about Indians getting the shaft yet again. This is a story much more complex than a two hour movie can portray. Not only that, but there are numerous characters in the movie who appear frequently, but are never even named. Someone familiar with these events can rationalize guesses on many of the characters' identity, but in general, I would have felt thoroughly confused if I knew nothing about this.

The topic of the Dawes Act is one that few average Americans know anything about, and it is an extremely important event in the history of the American west and Native/White relations. They should have changed the title and focused more on that. I felt that the dates and events were very scattered throughout the film and that many pieces of evidence were left out. Would Sitting Bull not have had some idea Crazy Horse was going in to the reservation? What about Sitting Bull's time in jail? Why briefly mention Bill Cody and the dancing white horse? Why only give 2 minutes of Wounded Knee? Who really brought the Ghost Dance to the Lakota?

Perhaps, the next time somebody attempts to make this movie, they'll either make it more historical or more theatrical. Nice try, but not what I was looking for.