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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 65.79.30.55 (talk) at 02:47, 30 March 2010 (→Historical accuracy: Changed from Dawes as "the hero of the movie" to "well-intentioned", edited slightly to make new rendering meaningfull.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the 2007 film released by HBO. For the book of the same name, see Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Created byDee Brown (novel)
Written byjose domingo (teleplay)
Directed byYves Simoneau
StarringAidan Quinn
Adam Beach
August Schellenberg
Anna Paquin
Music byGeorge S. Clinton
Country of origin United States
Original languageTransclusion error: {{En}} is only for use in File namespace. Use {{langx|en}} or {{in lang|en}} instead.
Production
ProducersTom Thayer
Dick Wolf
Running time132 minutes
Original release
Release27 May 2007

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.

Plot

The plot, which is based on events covered by several chapters of Brown's book as well as other sources on Charles Eastman, revolves around three main characters: Charles Eastman né Ohiyesa (Adam Beach), a young, Dartmouth-educated, Sioux doctor held up as living proof of the alleged success of assimilation; Sitting Bull (Schellenberg), the proud 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; and Senator Henry Dawes (Quinn), an architect of government policy on Indian affairs.

While Eastman and patrician schoolteacher Elaine Goodale (Paquin) work to improve life for the Indians on the reservation, Senator Dawes lobbies President Ulysses Grant (Thompson) for more humane treatment, opposing the bellicose stance of General William Tecumseh Sherman (Feore). The Dawes Commission (actually 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 the stance of Sitting Bull, who has taken a position of 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 reservation, Eastman refuses.

Hope rises for the Indians in the form of the prophet Wovoka (Studi) and the Ghost Dance—a messianic movement that promises an end of their suffering under the white man. This hope is obliterated after the assassination of Sitting Bull and the massacre of hundreds of Indian men, women and children by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890.

Historical accuracy

The role of Eastman has been exaggerated to allow him to be a witness to multiple historic events. He was not present at Little Big Horn nor was he involved in drawing up the Dawes plan to individualize Indian land ownership.[2] Eastman first met Dawes as a lobbyist, years after Wounded Knee.[2]

Furthermore, Eastman is not a major figure in Brown's book. Much of the material on Eastman appears to be drawn from Raymond Wilson's 1999 biography of Eastman, Ohiyesa.

Although Dawes is played as well-intentioned in the movie, his true intentions of for the Native Americans is not known and suspect. the Dawes Act that he sponsored in 1887 actually decreased the amount of land owned by Native Americans through the parcelization of Native American reservations. Native Americans lost, over the 47 years of the Act's life, about 90 million acres (360,000 km²) of treaty land, or about two-thirds of the 1887 land base. About 90,000 Indians were made landless. The Dawes Act deteriorated Native American communal life-style, culture, and unity.[3][4]

Cast

Awards

The film received 17 nominations at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards,[5] earning more nominations than any other nominee. It won 6 Emmy Awards:[6]

  • 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 3 nominations at the 65th Golden Globe Awards:

It also won the 2007 Broadcast Film Critics Award for Best Picture Made for Television.

Satellite Awards

  • Nominated: Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, Aidan Quinn
  • Nominated: Best Television Film

Screen Actors Guild Awards

  • Nominated: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film, Anna Paquin

References

  1. ^ [1]|Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes (The Dawes Commission), 1893-1914
  2. ^ a b http://friendslittlebighorn.com/buryheartwoundedknee.htm
  3. ^ Case DS, Voluck DA (2002). Alaska Natives and American Laws (2nd ed. ed.). Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press. pp. 104–5. ISBN 9781889963082. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
  4. ^ 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. Pages 226–29
  5. ^ http://www.emmys.org/awards/2007pt/59thnominations.php Retrieved 2007-09-22.
  6. ^ "59th Primetime Emmy Awards Winners" (PDF). emmys.org. 2007-09-16. p. 11. Retrieved 2007-09-22.
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