Product ReviewsBury My Heart at Wounded Knee (DVD, 2007, 2-Disc Set)

The truth told in a touching way, well fitting actors.

I decided to by the DVD after watching "Into the West".
I really liked BMHAWK; it´s telling the story of the continued attemps of the governement to put Indians on reservations and "civilize" them.

It is not the black-and-white kind of story. Neither making the white people the really bad guys nor proposing the Natives to be the holy heroes.
It paints a picture that seems realistic to me, bringing up many details. I learned a lot of history through it, for example I could grasp the meaning of Cody´s Wildwest-Show better, and how much the Indians were depending on the rations and supply.

The actors are fitting the roles greatly, some parts of the movie touched me deaply. I would recommand it to anyone :)Read full review...

Bury My Heart Falls Short

Wounded Knee evokes a great deal of emotion for me, and it was with reluctance that I finally sat down to watch this film. Knowing the details of the massacre, and how women, children and old people were chased down and murdered, was something I wasn't sure I could watch - even in a movie.

One reviewer on Amazon gave this a very thorough review, and he noted that while it was fairly accurate historically, it was not completely so. I won't steal his words for this review. After following the steady downward spiral of the Sioux people into nearly complete destruction over a period of 14 years, the end was, well . . . given cursory attention, a gloss over, Hollywood-ized. According to Black Elk (read Black Elk Speaks for a firsthand account), those "wagon guns" went on firing for a long, long time.

The scenery was well chosen, the sets fairly realistic, and of course, the (Canadian) Native actors who reenacted their American cousins' history were terrific.

What should have been the climax of this endeavor, the Wounded Knee Massacre, was handled pathetically. Such a tragic end to a beautiful way of life deserved far more and better attention than it received. It was the sheer brutality of the soldiers as they shot women and infants at point blank range, their insulting demeanor towards a desperate people, their desire for revenge for Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn, the overwhelming evil that was unleashed that day, that is left out. For that alone, this film falls very, very short of the mark in explaining the grief and mourning, and anger, a people still feel for their lost past. While no fault of the film makers, as a final insult, in the notes at the end of the film, you will see that Congressional Medals of Honor were bestowed upon these "heroes" for their part in this, to use Black Elk's own word, butchery.

Dee Brown's classic book upon which this movie is based is far more detailed. As in most cases, the book is better than the movie. If I could change my rating to no star, I would.Read full review...

Great Movie

I read the book in the mid-seventies. The book impressed me so much and as a young white woman, at the time, it was a life altering experience. I have talked of the book throughout the years. The movie version is powerful and complex, but as always had I not read the book, this movie may have been hard to follow. Anyone that has any questions about events that took place during this era, and the arrogant hand the white man had in Indian affairs and atrosities would be inlightened by this movie. I do however, recommend reading the book first.Read full review...

Still lying to make themselves look good.

After reading the book, I felt that this DVD was a sorry version of what really happened. I know Hollywood can’t put all the sad and horrific details of what truly happen in a two hour movie. But I felt that this movie missed the point of what the story was trying to tell us. It was too watered down and it seemed like the whites ONCE AGAIN are trying to make excuses for themselves for the slandering of innocent Native American/Americans Indians. I know they didn’t want to make the Indians look like the bad guys warriors in the movie but they also didn’t want to take full blame for any of the massacre themselves “We didn’t shoot first”. I personally didn’t like this movie. For now I’ll stick with the books true version of what happened until maybe someday a Native American Indian can make a more close to the full truth version of the movie. That may be the only way we’ll ever get to understand the true account of what really happened. So for me this movie got two thumbs down.Read full review...

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007 DVD)

I have always wanted this movie. I have watched it many times on HBO and thought this would be a fine movie to add to my collection. It's a story about what had happened after Custer's revolt on the Little Big Horn..is fault or not, things could have been done differently if Custer would have waited for proper orders. The massacre wouldn't have been so bad and the indians wouldn't have to resort to the reservations. Sitting Bull was killed and their wasn't any food to eat for the indians. Wounded Knee is a actual place and there weren't anymore ghost riders.Read full review...

History brought to life

This is a good semi accurate depiction of this tragic event which darkens the history of our country and until those medals given and any names of honor or rewards or mentions removed it remains a shameful act never made right , even the Germans finally made apology to the Jewish people God is waiting for our repentance of the way we have treated our neighbors !Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: second.sale

Excellent Movie

After reading the book over a 3 month period, I wanted my children to understand just a little about the stain of spilled blood that our nation created that day at wounded knee, to see from the side of the story the history books didn't write. I wanted them to see that genocide is not something that only the Nazi's practiced, and I wanted to see that good and bad were present on both sides of the fence. We live in the disputed area of the dakotas, right near the rail line that was at the base of this attrocity, and I wanted to show a little bit oh history they would not learn in schools. The story told here is a very condensed version of the book, but it made my point well. The people were well portrayed, the visuals were stunning, and though I was dissappointed that it didn't tell more of the story, It was and exceptional portrait of the times and the people. I would buy it again over and over!Read full review...

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Being a native New Zealander I ask the question why did/do whites the world over consider them selves superior to the indigenous races of land they were/are entering when in most cases they could not even support themselves and had to be assisted by the local natives. Bought this dvd to go with my book Bury my heart at wounded knee. I ask the question how true to life is this dvd?Read full review...

WOUNDED KNEE

IT WAS ENTERTAINING I LIKE CHARLES EASTMAN. WONDER HOW HE WOULD HAVE BEEN IF HE HAD STAYED WITH HIS PEOPLE?

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: decluttr_store

Excellent movie on a dark chapter of US history.

I've heard about Wounded Knee but never did any research on its historical significance. This is a part of US history and other countries have always viewed US intentions using historical facts as basis for motives. The US have committed and is guilty of cultural genocide on the indigenous people. If the basis for Serbian and Greek mistrust of Muslims are the actions of the Ottoman Empire, other nations use history as the basis for US world wide political activity. And Wounded Knee has not been resolved while Obama is forcing Israel and the Arab countries to resolve their differences. What hypocracy.Read full review...