MovieChat Forums > The Education of Little Tree (1997) Discussion > a great historical film

a great historical film

posted 20 years ago by zelda1964
12 replies | jump to latest

This movie was brilliantly cast,and it tells the plight of a Cherokee orphan.He comes to live with his indian grandmother and white grandfather.The little child is befriended by an indian aide who teaches him about his heritage.On account of White men, the indians were never free to live their own way.This film tries to show you the struggle one boy had to face in keeping his own identity.I enjoyed this movie detailing how He loses his own family ,but keeps his dreams and hope alive.

[–] northerngirl1211 19 years ago

awwe Mika Boorem was sooo adorable in this movie! It was a great movie, it had alot of sad parts but it taught me alot about those kinds of times

xoxo Lizzie

[–] Jesse2005 18 years ago

Yes , I loved the scences with her and Joseph Ashton. They are so cute together.
Jessica

[–] drusus99 18 years ago

This film and the book that it is based on are fraudulent accounts that were fabricated by the author Forrest/Asa Carter. Asa Carter was a virulent racist and was the speech writer for George Wallace. He was, among other things, responsible for Wallace's "Segregation Forever!" speech. There is also convincing evidence that Carter was a member of the North Alabama White Citizen's Council and a leader within the Ku Klux Klan.
This account is a lie, though a moving, convincing one; the best lies are. He was an excellent writer who could move the reader to emotion, which isn't easy to do. It is unfortunate that this touching story is only fiction and that the source of it was so corrupt.

Please see the attached sources
http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/carter.html
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/12/20/carter/

[–] christopher_greenleaf 18 years ago

Didn't you start a thread on this board with the same message?? Why did you feel it neccessary to spam the boards?? You posted once! Isn't that more than enough?

[–] drusus99 18 years ago

Sure, I guess you're right. Bad protocol on my part.

[–] Wednesday_Next 18 years ago

But I would suggest it is forgivible, since the person who began this thread referred to it as a "great historical" story, which it is most decidedly NOT.

It is fiction. Carter's politics aside, this is the same problem as the recent flap about "A Million Little Pieces" and Oprah. Fiction is not the same as memoir. Fiction is not the same as autobiography. Fiction is not the same as history. So it is highly unethical for this story to continue to be published and filmed without clearly marking it as fictional.

[–] wolfinspirit 16 years ago

I see this film as fiction in that the exact characters may not have existed in life. However it is based in the facts of how American Indians were treated at the time. It is based in the facts of how Indian Boarding schools were actually run.

I never saw anything in the film that claimed that it was entirely true.

[–] bootblack987 10 years ago

I think you are confused about what spam is. Also, could you provide an imdb.com link that shows the rules as to how many posts we are allowed to make per movie or thread? I am unaware of any such rule.

[–] trixie-k-88 15 years ago

That guy was dead long before the movie. Just because someone's a jerk it doesn't mean they can't create a good fiction. And even if he was racist, I find it hard to believe a racist created a story that has the morals of accepting people as they are and not trying to impose your beleifs/ways of life on others. It's bad when people misrepresent causes, but this movie itself is good. Just let it go, and put your energy into fight racists who are alive.

[–] DianneBellmont 15 years ago

People can change and evolve. They learn from their mistakes. Fiction or not, he wrote a good book. Heck, even puppies eventually learn to stop crapping on the carpet. I fully believe Carter eventually became a better person.

*The shape-shifter is in and will take your calls now.

[–] chicago85 10 years ago

I liked the movie just like I liked "Fargo." The Coen Brothers labelled it a true story at the beginning of the movie and also on the new tv series with Bill Bob Thornton. Criticisms of the Coen's joke hasn't prevented them from repeating it.

Carter broke with his past and moved to Abilene, Texas, where he write the book this movie is based on as well as "The Outlaw Josie Wales" which was made into a movie by Clint Eastwood.

I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else.

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 9 years ago

It's strange that you have such vitriol for a film sympathetic towards Native Americans and is critical of the government that has mistreated them. There are many more books that deserve criticism, this isn't one of them.

It's also curious that the author is supposed to be such a white supremacist but writes a book that is critical of racism. Have you not even bothered to question why this is? Maybe he was part Indian and initially had such self loathing that he embraced his white side over his native side due to environmental factors. Or maybe he truly was a racist white man who later on had a change of heart. Aren't people allowed to change? Or maybe he was a racist mixed Indian? Whites don't solely own racism or prejudice you know.

You are a very strange poster going after a well intentioned film/book rather than targeting your spamming on films/books that are intentionally malicious. The message of the film seems to go over your head, or maybe that's the point?

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