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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)

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Wikipedia article




'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee' is a 2007 American Western historical drama television film adapted from the 1970 book of the same name by Dee Brown. The film was written by Daniel Giat, directed by Yves Simoneau and produced by HBO Films. The book on which the film is based is a history of Native Americans in the American 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. The title of the film and the book is taken from a line in the Stephen Vincent Benet poem "American Names." It was shot in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and premiered on HBO on May 27, 2007.

Plot



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: Charles Eastman n 'Ohiyesa', a young, mixed-race Sioux doctor educated at Dartmouth and Boston University, who is held up as proof of the success of assimilation; Sitting Bull, the Sioux chief who refuses to submit to U.S. government policies designed to strip his people of their identity, their dignity and their sacred land, the gold-laden Black Hills of the Dakotas; U.S. Senator Henry L. Dawes, an architect of government policy for allotment of Indian lands to individual households to force adoption of subsistence farming; and Red Cloud, whose decision to make peace with the American government and go to a reservation disturbed Sitting Bull.

While Eastman and his future wife Elaine Goodale, a reformer from New England and Superintendent of Indian Schools in the Dakotas, work to improve life for Indians on the reservation, Senator Dawes lobbies President Ulysses S. Grant for more humane treatment of the Indians. He opposes the adversarial stance of General William Tecumseh Sherman. The Dawes Commission (held from 1893 to 1914)[https://www.archives.gov/genealogy/heritage/native-american/dawes.html] |Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes (The Dawes Commission), 1893-1914 develops a proposal to break up the Great 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 prophet 'Wovoka' raised Western Indian hopes with his spiritual movement based on a revival of religious practice and the ritual Ghost Dance; it was a messianic movement that promised an end of their suffering under the white man. The assassination of Sitting Bull, and the massacre, by the 7th Cavalry, of nearly 200 Indian men, women and children at Wounded 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 his Dawes 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 km) of treaty land, or about two-thirds of their 1887 land base. About 90,000 Indians were made landless. The implementation of the Dawes Act disrupted Native American tribes' traditional communal life, culture, and unity.Gibson, Arrell M. Gibson. "Indian Land Transfers." 'Handbook of North American Indians: History of Indian-White Relations, Volume 4.' Wilcomb E. Washburn & William C. Sturtevant, eds. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1988. pp. 22629

Cast



* Adam Beach as Charles Eastman

* Anna Paquin as Elaine Goodale

* Chevez Ezaneh as Ohiyesa / Young Charles

* August Schellenberg as Chief Sitting Bull

* Aidan Quinn as Henry L. Dawes

* Colm Feore as General William Tecumseh Sherman

* Fred Dalton Thompson as President Ulysses S. Grant

* Duane Howard as Uncle

* Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse as One Bull

* Brian Stollery as Bishop Whipple

* Shaun Johnston as Colonel Nelson A. Miles

* Gordon Tootoosis as Chief Red Cloud

* Billy Merasty as Chief Young Man Afraid of His Horses

* Morris Birdyellowhead as Chief American Horse

* Eddie Spears as Chasing Crane

* Sean Wei Mah as Bull Head

* Eric Schweig as Chief Gall

* Jimmy Herman as Yellow Bird

* Patrick St. Esprit as Major James Walsh

* J.K. Simmons as James McLaughlin

* Wes Studi as Wovoka / Jack Wilson

* Marty Atonini as Colonel James W. Forsyth

* Lee Tergesen as Daniel F. Royer

Awards



The film received 17 nominations at the '59th Primetime Emmy Awards',[http://www.emmys.org/awards/2007pt/59thnominations.php 59th Primetime Emmy Awards] . Retrieved 2007-09-22. earning more nominations than any other nominee. It won six Emmy Awards:

*'Won': Outstanding Made for Television Movie

*'Won': Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie

*'Won': Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special (tie)

*'Won': Outstanding Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special (Non-prosthetic)

*'Won': Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special

*'Won': Outstanding Single Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or Movie

*Nominated: Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie

*Nominated: Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special

*Nominated: Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special

*Nominated: Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special, Yves Simoneau

*Nominated: Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special

*Nominated: Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score), George S. Clinton

*Nominated: Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special

*Nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, Aidan Quinn

*Nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, August Schellenberg

*Nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, Anna Paquin

*Nominated: Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special, Daniel Giat

It also received three nominations at the '65th Golden Globe Awards':

*Nominated: Best Miniseries or Television Film

*Nominated: Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, Adam Beach

*Nominated: Best Supporting Actress – Miniseries, Series or Television Film, Anna Paquin

It also won the '2007 Broadcast Film Critics Award' for Best Picture Made for Television.

'Satellite Awards'

*Nominated: Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, Aidan Quinn

*Nominated: Best Television Film

'Screen Actors Guild Awards'

*Nominated: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film, Anna Paquin

References




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