| Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Based on | Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee byDee Brown |
| Written by | Daniel Giat |
| Directed by | Yves Simoneau |
| Starring | |
| Music by | George S. Clinton |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Clara George |
| Production locations | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Cinematography | David Franco |
| Editors |
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| Running time | 132 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | HBO |
| Release | May 27, 2007 (2007-05-27) |
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a 2007 AmericanWesternhistorical drama television film based on the 1970 non-fiction bookof the same name byDee Brown. It is directed byYves Simoneau and was produced byWolf Films forHBO. It starsAidan Quinn,Adam Beach,August Schellenberg,Anna Paquin,Colm Feore, andGordon Tootoosis.
The film dramatizes the history ofNative Americans in theAmerican West in the 1860s and 1870s, focusing upon the transition from traditional ways of living to living on reservations and their treatment during that period, through the lives of four main characters:Charles Eastman (Beach),Sitting Bull (Schellenberg),Henry L. Dawes (Quinn), andRed Cloud (Tootoosis). The title of the film and the book is taken from a line in theStephen Vincent Benét poem "American Names."
The film premiered onHBO on May 27, 2007. It received positive reviews from critics, and won sevenPrimetime Emmy Awards, includingOutstanding Television Movie. It was also nominated for threeGolden Globe Awards:Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film,Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for Beach, andBest Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for Paquin.
The plot, which is based on events covered by several chapters of Brown's book, other sources, and on real events, revolves around four main characters:
While Eastman and his future wifeElaine Goodale, a reformer from New England and Superintendent of Indian Schools in the Dakotas, work to improve life for Native Americans on the reservation, Senator Dawes lobbies PresidentUlysses S. Grant for more humane treatment of the Native Americans. He opposes the adversarial stance of GeneralWilliam Tecumseh Sherman. TheDawes Commission (held from 1893 to 1914)[1] develops a proposal to break up theGreat 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 Sitting Bull's opposition. He has risen to 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 Sioux reservation, Eastman refuses.
The prophetWovoka raised Western Native American hopes with his spiritual movement based on a revival of religious practice and the ritualGhost Dance; it was a messianic movement that promised an end of their suffering under the white man. The assassination of Sitting Bull, and themassacre, by the7th Cavalry, of nearly 200 Native American men, women and children atWounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890, ended such hopes.
Henry L. Dawes wanted to increase the cultural assimilation of Native Americans into American society by hisDawes Act (1887) and his later efforts as head of the Dawes Commission. During the 47 years of implementing the Act, Native Americans lost about 90 million acres (360,000 km2) of treaty land, or about two-thirds of their 1887 land base. About 90,000 Native Americans were made landless. The implementation of the Dawes Act disrupted Native American tribes' traditional communal life, culture, and unity.[2][3]
The film was shot inCalgary, Alberta, Canada.