500 Nations
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Movie Reviews of 500 Nations
Movie Review: An important addition to U.S. history
Summary: 5 Stars
Great documentary. This really fills a gap in U.S. history. It tells the story of American history from the perspective of Native Americans. The documentary is well-done. It makes good use of contemporaneous paintings of Native Americans, as well as footage from the sites involved. This makes the film visually more interesting than most historical documentaries, which typically just focus on a picture or historian's commentary.
Predictably, the series does gloss over some of the less pleasant facts from Native American history, such as human sacrifices in the Aztec Empire. However, given the fact that U.S. history has traditionally ignored Native American history, and given our ancestors' crimes against Native Americans, this can be overlooked.
A more serious problem is that the documentary does not provide much background on commentators. The series often interviews anthropologists or Native American activists without mentioning who they are, which institution they are associated with, etc. It would have been easy to include a subtitle under the person's name stating his institution. It may seem small, but would have made the series a bit more authoritative.
I also recommend Charles Mann's 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, which provides a fresh look at Native American history before Columbus.
ii. good story
1. glosses over less pleasant facts (human sacrifice)
2. doesn't always give background on commentators
3. good use of photos, paintings, and on-sight footage to make it visually entertaining
Movie Review: You Will (Should) Cry
Summary: 5 Stars
A magnificent achievment. Should be required viewing by Boards of Education across the country. You will learn the tradgedies and triumphs of Indians left out of the history books. Christopher Columbus was a mass murderer, DeSoto the "explorer" was, in the words of a narrator in the film, "the embodiment of pure evil".
You will not only learn of all of the atrocities of Europeans and Americans, but will also learn of the greatness of Indian leaders such as Montezuma, Pontiac, Chief Joseph and Tecumseh.
As a 1/8th Shawnee, I especially liked the section on Tecumseh, especially that his name is pronounced correctly. My only criticism would be that Tecumseh's remarkable prophecies, such as predicting a massive earthquake that occured in the Missouri area and changed the course of the Mississippi River is not touched upon, but the film will lead you to read biographies and other histories of the remarkable lives of these great leaders.
For the first time, through the stunning computer graphics of the Santa Barbara Graphics group you will see Cahokia, the valley of Mexico and the Anasazi heartland at Chaco Canyon as it was in Indian times.
I urge you to buy this film and show it to every visitor to your home. Savor it and remember that once they were here and the future can be and should be different.
Movie Review: It's been some time since I gave out 5 Stars!
Summary: 5 Stars
This series is certainly worth it! This miniseries is well researched, has excellent graphics, and Kevin Costner does a great job as host. I fell in love with it the first few moments I watched.
No matter what portion of the country you live in, you will learn new history about your region. The series is designed so you can watch it through from beginning to end, or skip directly to the portions that most interest you.
This is one series I think EVERY American should own. It will help you understand who you are, even if you don't have a trace of Native American blood.
I chose the portion that deals with our locality to show to the college class I teach. Although the portion was only 8 minutes long, it sparked a discussion that sent our class into overtime.
Why should you buy it as opposed to renting it? Simple, when you rent a movie, you remember the movie and often don't view it a second time. This is more like a multimedia encyclopedia on Native Americans. You will want to look up portions of it from time to time and even show certain portions to friends.
Movie Review: Enlightening and heart-breaking...
Summary: 5 Stars
This most certainly IS NOT a romantic view of Native American history. Whoever thinks that chose either to not watch the entire series, or chooses not to see the truth about what is the greatest tragedy in this country's history. It's a shame more people today don't look upon this long-standing horrific aspect of our history more seriously; for the consequences have been too great and are still in effect today...a shame, in my opinion. I most certainly agree that more "anthropological"-type media should be made to understand and appreciate so many cultures; for they are interesting at the very least. Nevertheless, that is not the intent here...it's to educate us all on what is our very own "American Holocaust" and its legacy. Hopefully, it would prompt one to take some sort of action...whether it be simply to spark an interest to read and become more educated on this topic.Movie Review: The Native Americans
Summary: 5 Stars
This film evoked in me a great deal of emotion about the American Indians, and more especially about how badly they'd been treated by our forefathers, their European invaders. I've learnt a great deal that I didn't know from watching and listening to the commentary. My only criticism (and it's only a small one) is that I heard little mention of some of the more recent tribes including the Comanches, and I always thought that they would have featured rather prominently, however that's only my own opinion. Some of the scenery shots were absolutely brilliant as was the computer generated scenes. All in all, a very enjoyable film, full of information, and lasting over eight hours. Well worth buying, and re-watching time and time again. A must for anyone even remotely interested in The Native American culture.