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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Hbo Home Video
Salesrank: 6305
Released: September 11, 2007 |
| Our Price: $4.75 |
| Used Price: $2.58 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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.
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Featurette
Interviews
Photo gallery
Production Notes
Description of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee:
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
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Reviews:
"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" DVD 
2009-10-19 - "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" DVD should be required viewing for all high school students in both English and Social Studies/American history classes. Of course most adult Americans may never see it but still they OUGHT TO. I'm working on getting all my family members to view it. One important virtue is that it doesn't simplify the different perspectives in the usually dumbing-down style of Hollywood. Yes, much of the history included is selected as is necessary, but at least this film tries to present the complexity and background of the massacre and the principal people involved. With a deep background in 19th century American literature and history & Native American studies, (PhD.) I would highly recommend this film. Kudoes to the director, producer and actors for doing it. It's based on Dee Brown's classic book by the same name. I particularly appreciated the film's attention focused on peoples' difficulties with language and culture barriers, the consequences of many misunderstandings, and the powerful clarity of the Sioux leaders as they continually resist the genocidal, murderous, and racist forces arrayed against them.
Sad but true story
2009-09-23 - Revelations as to how mistreated the American Indians were mistreated in so many instances. Though they were savages, initially, they needed to be shown, truthfully, the civilized way to share the Earth.
Must see A Big part of our history
2009-06-04 - This DVD should be a must see or at least read about in American history along with the Trail of Tears. We have to long burried the Native American to a foot note in history it's a shame that these stories are not brought out of the closet and only shown on PBS . We need to Honor the First People of this land instead of villinizing them they were only protecting what was theirs to beging with.
Bury My Heart Review
2009-04-24 - A historically accurate portrayal of a tragic event in Native American history.
The wonderful acting, stunning scenery, wardrobe and characters
make you feel the grit and the hardships of the old west and sympathize with
a people striving to maintain their way of life and fight extinction in a literal sense.
Adam Beach shines as one of the top native actors. One of my favorites!
Unrespect to Dee Brown 
2009-03-29 - In first place, sorry about my bad english.
I belive that this movie unrespect the original book of Dee Brown. The movie must be directed by a native american as say it by another review. I don't agree with the opinion of the massacre of wounded Knee was romantizised by Brown. This happend and the nortamerican autorities carry on in his back this terrible history.
I suggest the cd Tribal Dreams to amazonians people.
