Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)
| Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee | |
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| Creator | Dee Brown (book) |
| Directed by | Yves Simoneau |
| Produced by | Tom Thayer Dick Wolf |
| Written by | Jose Domingo (teleplay) |
| Starring | Aidan Quinn Adam Beach August Schellenberg Anna Paquin |
| Music by | George S. Clinton |
| Editing by | Michael D. Ornstein |
| Production company | HBO Films |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | HBO |
| Release date | May 27, 2007 |
| Running time | 132 minutes |
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a 2007 television film adapted from the book of the same name by Dee Brown. The film was written by Daniel Giat, directed by Yves Simoneau and produced by HBO Films. The book on which the movie is based is a history of Native Americans in the American West in the late nineteenth century. The title of the film and the book is taken from a line in the Stephen Vincent Benet poem "American Names." It was shot in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
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[edit] Plot
The plot, which is based on events covered by several chapters of Brown's book as well as other sources, revolves around four main characters: Charles Eastman né Ohiyesa (Adam Beach), a young, mixed-race Sioux doctor educated at Dartmouth and Boston University, who is held up as proof of the success of assimilation; Sitting Bull (August Schellenberg), the Sioux chief who refuses to submit to U.S. government policies designed to strip his people of their identity, their dignity and their sacred land, the gold-laden Black Hills of the Dakotas; Senator Henry Dawes (Aidan Quinn), an architect of government policy for allotment of Indian lands to individual households to force adoption of subsistence farming; and Red Cloud, whose decision to make peace with the American government and go to a reservation disturbed Sitting Bull.
While Eastman and his future wife Elaine Goodale (Paquin), a reformer from New England and Superintendent of Indian Schools in the Dakotas, work to improve life for Indians on the reservation, Senator Dawes lobbies President Ulysses Grant (Thompson) for more humane treatment of the Indians. He opposes the adversarial stance of General William Tecumseh Sherman (Feore). The Dawes Commission (held from 1893 to 1914)[1] develops a proposal to break up the Great Sioux Reservation to allow for American demands for land while preserving enough land for the Sioux to live on. The Commission's plan is held up by Sitting Bull's opposition. He has risen to leadership among the Sioux as one of the last chiefs to fight for their independence. Dawes, in turn, urges Eastman to help him convince the recalcitrant tribal leaders. After witnessing conditions on the Sioux reservation, Eastman refuses.
The prophet Wovoka (Studi) raised Western Indian hopes with his spiritual movement based on a revival of religious practice and the ritual Ghost Dance; it was a messianic movement that promised an end of their suffering under the white man. The assassination of Sitting Bull and the massacre of nearly 200 Indian men, women and children by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890 ended such hopes.
Henry L. Dawes' wanted to increase the cultural assimilation of Native Americans into American society by his Dawes Act (1887) and his later efforts as head of the Dawes Commission. During the 47 years of implementing the Act, Native Americans lost about 90 million acres (360,000 km²) of treaty land, or about two-thirds of their 1887 land base. About 90,000 Indians were made landless. The Implementation of the Dawes Act disrupted Native American tribes' communal life, culture, and unity.[2][3]
[edit] Cast
- Adam Beach as Charles Eastman
- Anna Paquin as Elaine Goodale
- Chevez Ezaneh as Ohiyesa / young Charles
- August Schellenberg as Sitting Bull
- Aidan Quinn as Senator Henry L. Dawes
- Colm Feore as General William Tecumseh Sherman
- Fred Thompson as President Ulysses S. Grant
- Nathan Chasing His Horse as One Bull
- Brian Stollery as Bishop Whipple
- Shaun Johnston as Col. Nelson A. Miles
- Gordon Tootoosis as Red Cloud
- Billy Merasty as Young Man Afraid Of His Horses
- Morris Birdyellowhead as American Horse
- Eddie Spears as Chasing Crane
- Sean Wei Mah as Bull Head
- Eric Schweig as Chief Gall
- Jimmy Herman as Yellow Bird
- Patrick St. Esprit as Major James Walsh
- J.K. Simmons as James McLaughlin
- Wes Studi as Wovoka/Jack Wilson
- Marty Atonini as Col. James W. Forsyth
- Lee Tergesen as Daniel F. Royer
[edit] Awards
The film received 17 nominations at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards,[4] earning more nominations than any other nominee. It won six Emmy Awards:[5]
- Won: Outstanding Made for Television Movie
- Won: Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie
- Won: Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or Special (tie)
- Won: Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or Special (Non-prosthetic)
- Won: Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or Special
- Won: Outstanding Single Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie
- Nominated: Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries, or Movie
- Nominated: Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
- Nominated: Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
- Nominated: Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, Yves Simoneau
- Nominated: Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
- Nominated: Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score), George S. Clinton
- Nominated: Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special
- Nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, Aidan Quinn
- Nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, August Schellenberg
- Nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, Anna Paquin
- Nominated: Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, Daniel Giat
It also received three nominations at the 65th Golden Globe Awards:
- Nominated: Best Miniseries or Television Film
- Nominated: Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, Adam Beach
- Nominated: Best Supporting Actress – Miniseries, Series or Television Film, Anna Paquin
It also won the 2007 Broadcast Film Critics Award for Best Picture Made for Television.
- Nominated: Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, Aidan Quinn
- Nominated: Best Television Film
- Nominated: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film, Anna Paquin
[edit] References
- ^ [1]|Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes (The Dawes Commission), 1893-1914
- ^ Case DS, Voluck DA (2002). Alaska Natives and American Laws (2nd ed. ed.). Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press. pp. 104–5. ISBN 9781889963082.
- ^ Gibson, Arrell M. Gibson. "Indian Land Transfers." Handbook of North American Indians: History of Indian-White Relations, Volume 4. Wilcomb E. Washburn & William C. Sturtevant, eds. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1988. pp. 226–29
- ^ 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
- ^ "59th Primetime Emmy Awards Winners" (PDF). emmys.org. 2007-09-16. p. 11. Archived from the original on 2007-10-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20071024190532/http://www.emmys.org/downloads/2007/pte59emmywinners.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
[edit] External links
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee official website
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee at the Internet Movie Database
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee at AllRovi
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee at Rotten Tomatoes
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee review at the Friends of the Little Bighorn website
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