Good movie but grossly overrated

best movie i've ever seen.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

This story covers the period from the battle at Little Big Horn to the massacre at Wounded Knee.It's your typical heart-tugging depiction of mistreatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government and its people. The theme is trending since Dances With Wolves. The viewer is supposed to cry or burn with liberal outrage. Look how bad our government treated them. Why didn't people do anything?But if you want to know why people didn't do anything, you can just ask yourself. This is still going on. The U.S. supported government in Honduras has been cheating Native Hondurans out their land. They'll damn a river to make a hydroelectric plant, sell the power to El Salvador or Guatemala and then put the profits in the pockets of politicians and other oligarchs. Entire cultures have been destroyed to build these dams. It's going on right now. Indians have even been killed to clear the way for profits.So as you watch this movie in outrage and cry for the poor Native Americans and curse those who did nothing, take a look in the mirror.

I've seen every film about the plight of the American Indian. I am not of the opinion that any Indian was innocent of being human--and therefore faulty and in need of personal communion with the Great Spirit. Real Christ Worshipers show the way to Life, always have, and always shall. It is indeed unfortunate that there have never been that many, but bright lights need few luminary companions. So, to the film. This is most likely the best piece of literary and historical film ever made to show the utter complexities of the American Indian/Caucasian tragedy which, sadly, continues today though not on the scale that it did in the 19th century or even in the 1970s on the tail-end of the Civil Rights Movement. But a subjugated people--in this case, subjugated peoples--eventually learn who is in power, right? Look, we are all human, we are all greedy to some degree or another, and we will all slander or even kill to get what we think we need, and in more and more cases even what we want outside of needs. But it doesn't have to be that way. Jesus and his transforming power is the answer. Wait--the crucified son of a carpenter of one of twelve tribes decimated and nearly extinct by the time he was born? That just makes no sense. Well, of course it doesn't, which gives credence to the idea that it just might be the truth. You take the most unknown people on the planet-- the Hebrews or Jews--and you bring forth the Savior of the World through them, thus showing that any tribe and nation is eligible for salvation. There's not a more brilliant plan than that. Weave in the lying so-called "Christians" of the good ol' U.S. of A. and the vengeful American Indians of many tribes across this huge continent, and you have quite a story. That's what this film is. It's all about looking at what actually happened in the late 1800s and before, and then forgiving the perpetrators--on both sides. Questions which surface for this film? How much identification should any person have with his tribe and family? How much land does a conquering people actually need? How can true Christians actually show their Christ to those who don't understand? How far do we take the commandment of Jesus to love one another, and lay our lives down for them? Should I actually conquer, or should I, like many of the Scotch- Irish settlers (Protestants who supported William of Orange, thus 'Hill Billys') in the Appalachians, happily intermarry and create a new ethnic group? See this film with an open mind, and an open heart.

Having just spent the past 18 months studying Native American philosophy and having just returned from a week at Cherokee, learning the language and culture up close, I can say this film does help express the complex and heart-rending story of the relationship between the invaders and the conquered in our years 1870-1890.For those who have been critical of the film (on this site), I should note from a White Woman's point of view, this is about all that Whites can absorb of the "full" story and emotions as a first contact. Yes, more can be told and should be told. But it's a start.Perhaps this is the beginning of a revival of compassion and cross-cultural understanding.In 1775, Dragging Canoe, a Cherokee, said, "We are not yet conquered." It has taken 200 years. Let's hope he was right.

The only reason I'm giving this movie 3 stars is because of the casting and the acting. Both were well done. The movie, however, is a disappointment.I first read Dee Brown's book, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, when I was 10 years old and found out that I was part Cherokee. It struck a cord with me that continues to resonate today, 30 some years later. Expecting a long overdue movie that would capture the eloquent and heart-breaking words and stories of the book, I was disappointed to find the movie barely resembled the book at all. As a college lecturer who frequently refers to the book in my classes, I am quite familiar with its contents. The movie version was barely recognizable.Indian heroes such as Sitting Bull and Red Cloud come across as arrogant and foolish in this movie. They are not characters that we can sympathize with; in fact, no one in this movie is. While the story of Charles Eastman is worth telling, it is not part of the book and is sloppily woven into the storyline of the Sioux resistance at the Battle of the Little Bighorn to the massacre at Wounded Knee. That the Wounded Knee massacre should be told in flashbacks rather than as direct action is appalling.So much has been left out of this movie that it does nothing more than commit a great injustice to both the book and the people whose stories are being told. Hasn't America taken enough away from the Indian? Must another Hollywood movie strip Indian people of yet another aspect of their culture, namely their stories, their history, and their heroes? In this movie, it does all three.