I was disappointed


Am I the only one who did not like this movie at all? It was just not very well done in my opinion. I just did not feel very moved, which is quite bizarre considering the subject matter. I remember being upset for days the first time I saw Little Big Man. Also, I have a hard time believing that Native Americans really talked like that back then. What do we have recordings of it or something? It seems to me like we got this notion of the way they talked from bad John Wayne movies of the 50's. Also, could Adam Beach have done a worse job? Good God is this man a poor actor. He had no chemistry with Anna Paquin whatsoever. He just could not carry this movie. I don't understand how any decent actor could have messed up such a meaty role.

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Agreed! I watched the whole thing, hoping it would get better, but it never did. For the most part - Poorly acted (except Paquin & Schellenberg), poorly photographed (proving that beautiful vistas do not equal "great cinematograhy"), poorly directed (I'm sure the director thought those interludes with old-timey photographs were poignant in a Ken Burnsish kind of way - He thought wrong). This is a great story - so even this botched video version has its moments. 5/10 I recommend skipping it and instead watching "Little Big Man" or better yet -"Dances With Wolves". By the way - there are many great John Wayne movies (especially the ones directed by John Ford - check out "Red River", both versions of "Stagecoach", "The Searchers" (great though somewhat overrated), just to start. Indeed, it is an insult to those great movies to even mention them while discussing this HBO turkey.

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I wont defend this movie, because personally I agree that it could have and by all rights should have been much better but I can say that having read some direct quotations of Natives from the period that that style of speech is probably pretty accurate and in fact I did pick out some direct quotes in the move. The strange feel is probably owed to linguistic incompatibilities between English and in this case Lakota.

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I was TOTALLY disappointed by this movie -- it didn't get as hyped as Into the West but I had high hopes for this and it failed big time. For HBO I was expecting alot more realism, violence and truth. Adam Beach was good in the scenes he was in, August Schellenberg deserved more screen time and Wes Studi got one -- ONE -- scene!! He was fantastic as he always is but deserved much, much more then one scene. I was really disappointed in Eric Schweig's role -- I've been trying to follow his career since LOTM but he's always in these cameo and fade to the background scenes/no lines roles. I watched it once, I won't waste my time for a second time.

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I thought Eric Schweig's character was actually one of the better characters in the show. Gall was Sitting Bull's right hand man for the most part. Schweig is a good actor, and gets decent roles. He was in The Missing that came out in 03. He's got more good roles coming, I'm sure. Bury My Heart was a disappointment all around, but they gave a good effort.

"Funny thing, killin' a man. You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have."

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I have to strongly agree with you, this movie was a big let down.

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I agree; I thought "Into the West" was much better.

That said, Adam Beach is a very good actor. I can't believe anyone who understands acting could think otherwise.

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I was so looking forward to this movie and, like you, I was disappointed. I felt like Anna Paquin's character could have been developed more fully and the director didn't tap into her amazing acting.

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The movie really wasn't about Mrs. Eastman, though.

It was about the near cultural genocide of the Lakota race.

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Well, there is one thing that speaks louder than words, and this movie had lots of it: HORSE"S ASS.

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This is exactly how I felt. I kept waiting to be overwhelmed by emotion and it just never happened. I have gotten more emotional reading academic books about the Wounded Knee massacre than I did while watching this movie.

I suspected that Adam Beach's acting was terrible after watching Flags of Our Fathers, but this movie cinched it for me. He is TERRIBLE. How on earth did the flawless Anna Paquin end up in this movie??? She created any and all of the chemistry between the two characters. Also, it wasn't until the very end of the movie that I realized that somewhere along the line, they had gotten married. I know, it wasn't an important part of the script, but it was important to cement the notion that the Eastman character had fully immersed himself in the "white" culture prior to becoming a doctor on the reservation.

Anyway, this movie had potential, but ultimately fell flat. The central theme of the movie does not. The atrocities laid on the Lakota people is still a heinous black mark on the already crater-pocked facade of our government.

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I have not seen this movie but it even though posters do not agree on why it is bad, it appears everyone does agree that it is bad. Such a shame because I loved the book and considering that this is HBO, my expectations were very high.

What a shame.

Have a nice day!
I kick arse for the Lord!

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I was greatly disappointed also. I was so looking forward to something that would have brought the issues in this film to those who are ignorant about Native American rights but this movie was just blah. I thought it was going to be at least as good as Band of Brothers but not so.

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Yeah, it was a let down. I agree with a previous poster that I kept waiting to be overwhelmed by what was going on, but that never happened.

IMO, Adam Beach was pretty bad. I thought he was bland and dull in an otherwise decent story. His character didn't seem so compelling, and he and Anna Paquin had no chemistry, and she was wasted in this anyway.

I agree that the dialogue felt off. The cursing and use of expletives just didn't feel natural. Like 90's language in a 1800 era. Not good.

Overall, the film just felt like a depressing slice of life in Native American history. When it ended, I just felt "Eh. Hit or miss." Out of a 10, I give it a 5.

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The cursingf and expletives were norm for the time period, and even worse depending upon where in the US you were at that time. Especially mining towns or town with no government control or law. Case in point, Deadwood... many complained it wasn't "period" to have so much bad language, but to the contrary it was common in places where the "Rest of America wasn't looking"

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I liked it it was very good




I Worship The Goddess Amber Tamblyn


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I agree with most of the comments on this thread. I was extremely disappointed with this movie. They could have done so much more.

I'm absolutely shocked that it has already won several lesser Emmys.

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rgmayne on Sun Sep 9 2007 08:36:10

I agree with most of the comments on this thread. I was extremely disappointed with this movie. They could have done so much more.

I'm absolutely shocked that it has already won several lesser Emmys.


Well those are the "technical" Emmys, and from a technical stand point, imo, it is a good film and worthy of those awards. It will be interesting to see what happens when the Primetime Emmys are handed out next weekend - to be honest, and even though there are some major faults with the film, I'd love for August to win.

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I don't know what people are complaining about. I just saw the movie and was very touched by it. I thought the director and the actors all did very good jobs. I would recommend it.

A member of IMDB since 1999

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[deleted]

For an accurate portrayal of the disparaging and frustrating life of the Lakota tribe (also known as the “Sioux” tribe) on the reservation, don’t hesitate in watching this Movie.
Many people on this particular thread do not seem to like the movie for some reason. I, however, did like it and I feel that those here that didn’t like it should really search within themselves for the reason that they didn’t like it.
Some said that they were waiting to be overwhelmed with emotion, WHAT??? This movie wasn’t about “Overwhelming Emotion”, except for maybe the incident at “Wounded Knee”, this story was about “hopelessness”. The slow and systematic genocide of the Indians and the way the Government continually lied, reneged on deals, provoked the Indians into action, and put them on the poorest of land all in the hopes that they would resist just so they could annihilate them. Some wanted more of an open and expressive response from the Indian Characters in this movie, just one problem with that, they wouldn’t be portraying the Lakota accurately if they showed them being too affectionate or overly emotional. Indians, especially Lakota’s, thought it was a weakness to let their emotions show. Young boys, after a certain age, stopped showing affection to their own mothers. Even under torture they were proud and considered it honorable to die without crying out in pain. Why do some viewers always insist that every character, in every movie, needs to act according to the viewer own customs in order to be realistic? . Watch the movie, take it all in and maybe you will actually learn something.

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I have to wholeheartedly agree with bsteward. Perhaps it's because I'm a historian and therefore prone to demanding historical accuracy, but this film was very good and extremely well made with painstaking attention to detail. Hollywood is never history, but that said, this film did about as good as one could expect. Like all historical movies, it condenses some events (it kind of made Sitting Bull's death look like it was part of the actual Wounded Knee massacre) and took some character liberalizations (the relationship between Eastman and Dawes), but overall, it was outstanding. A 7.1 rating is far too low. This film gets at least a 9.0 on my scale.

I have to say, the unsung minor role of the movie might have been Colm Feore as Sherman. I've always thought he was a very good actor and yet absolutely didn't recognize him, and his portrayal was excellent.

The film had plenty of emotion for me.

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I like the movie, it gave me great insight into what happened and how Native American's were pushed onto reservations and what that life was like. I've only seen movies or shows when they were in their glory in their original homelife, never in this perspective. Ofcourse it is not 100% accurate, but it is Hollywood. I thought the acting was fine, not Oscar worthy, but not flat either.

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