Posted on 08/23/2007 5:45:11 PM PDT by Reaganesque
"This handsome indie Western damningly recounts the 1857 slayings of 120 settlers passing through Utah, but the didactic presentation, grim speechifying and tacked-on love story all signify a less-than-healthy regard for the audience's intelligence."
Variety Justin Chang
1/4 "The film feels less like historical drama than a venomous religious tract printed on celluloid." Minneapolis Star Tribune Colin Covert
"September Dawn has the ham-fisted lyricism of political ads and pharmaceutical commercials." Village Voice J. Hoberman
"When the movie isn't doling out ham-fisted history...it gives us magnificent vistas of a pristine prairie...and there's a deep sweetness to the subplot of Jonathan and Emily falling in love." Film Journal International Frank Lovece
1.5/4 "When watching the screen depiction of a historic event in which 120 people were murdered, giggling is not the appropriate response." Salt Lake Tribune Sean Means
1/5 "It has the chilling certitude of the self-righteous." Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore
2.5/5 "The real problem is that September Dawn isn't a very good movie. It moves too much like a public-school history pageant and gives us mono-dimensional characters who speak dialogue that fairly reeks of printer's ink." Arizona Republic Richard Nilsen
1/5 "The jarring MTV-style filmmaking is so distracting and the 'messaging' so unsubtle that after two long hours you find yourself leaving the theater with a massive headache, wondering when you started to hate Mormons." Orlando Weekly Brett Register
1/4 "Forget Grindhouse. September Dawn is the year's first honest-to-goodness exploitation flick." Slant Magazine Nick Schager
1/4 "Bombastic, slow-drying dramatization with lead-weight dialogue and a turgid romantic subplot." Newsday Gene Seymour
D- "Has serious problems in historical terms. But in this case they're exacerbated by the simple ineptitude of the filmmaking." One Guy's Opinion Frank Swietek
"Even if one gets past the movie's controversial depictions, there is the matter of its second-rate, made-for-television fare -- the poor battle choreography, the wooden editing and the cheesy writing." Washington Post Desson Thomson
2.5/4 "If September Dawn is a kind of Western, it's a Western utterly devoid of heroism or the usual archetypes. But the core message transcends time: Hatred laced with religious fanaticism is a toxic blend." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Dave Tianen
1/4 "Doesn't even measure up to an episode of your typical, cowboy TV show from the Fifties like Roy Rogers or The Lone Ranger. Get my drift, Kimosabe?" NewsBlaze Kam Williams
Click here for links to the full reviews.
Let me start by pointing out what has happened to LDS scholars in the past, and then you might better understand my conclusions...
June 22, 1968 - BYU’s president receives “confidential draft” by Terry Warner, professor of philosophy and religion, that “freedom of speech as it is known today is a secular concept and has no place of any kind at the BYU.”
Feb 26, 1992 - A BYU DAILY UNIVERSE editorial criticizes a recent memo from the sociology department to University president Rex E. Lee. The editorial upholds the concept of a ban on BYU faculty speaking at unauthorized symposia such as the Sunstone Symposium. “In this case, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has said where it doesn’t want research being presented. Is it a case of limited academic freedom? Yes, but any university or organization can limit expression to accomplish its institutional purpose.” Professors Edward Kimball (son of Spencer W. Kimball) and Eugene England write a response rebutting the three major points of the editorial.
May 20, 1992 - For third time in as many decades, national honor society Phi Beta Kappa rejects BYU’s application for membership because BYU does not encourage “a liberal arts education which . . . foster[s] free inquiry.”
June 8, 1996 - SALT LAKE TRIBUNE story that, contrary to recommendation of her department and college, BYU has fired English professor Gail Houston for expressing feminist views off campus. In support of this decision, university spokesman notes that 5 percent of her student-evaluations complain that Houston’s courses in English literature do not offer “gospel insights” and are not “spiritually uplifting,” even though 90 percent of student evaluations rank her highly. In October the American Association of University Professors begins investigation of this action in terms of due process and academic freedom.
July 7, 1996 - Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges re-certifies BYU’s accreditation for ten years, despite committee’s acknowledgement of faculty complaints that academic freedom is severely limited on this LDS campus.
Six noted intellectuals labeled the September Six, were expelled from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church, or Mormons) in September 1993.
It is my opinion that LDS Scholars are not given free reign of thought by their Church. To publish opinions contrary to the “official” stance threatens expulsion from their community and family.
Then scrap the book Joseph Smith wrote and stick with the one written by Jesus’ friends and those who prophecied His coming.
By keeping Joseph’s book(s), you are saying that Jesus is insufficient, and that you need “another gospel,” something *more* than what Jesus said and accomplished.
Well, that’s all right then.
Your Gramma HATES us!
MormonDude(at a loss for words)
The over 600 number is also corroborated by a historical article that talked about the grave site and includes historical documents from the time. The person in charge of the cemetary records at the time said there are hundreds of unidentified graves.
I can't find the original article I read but here is a corroborating link that shows the problems with finding and identifying gravesites
Winter Quarters Monument Winter Quarters (Neb.); Cemeteries--Nebraska Most of the graves on the cemetery grounds are unidentified.
This link has more info. from byu.
I find the wiki article especially lacking and ironic.
Wintering Saints had left their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois on relatively short notice and brought limited useful supplies.
And the other stuff ISN'T??
I agree with you about the editing style. Especially egregious in fight and chase scenes, I often watch it and still don’t have a clue what happened.
Dang!
I wonder why?
Would these be the same scholars that explain why there seems to be NO archeological evidence of the things that are in the BoM?
Every enemy that the United States Army has ever faced, or ever will face, has their story to tell.
I was there roughly 30 years ago. It was October, if I remember correctly. Don’t specifically remember a root cellar, but the weather was pretty cool anyway.
Quite possibly. But we've taken a blood oath NOT to reveal these to outsiders. Sacred you know...
--MormonDude(I'm not worthy!)
Your tagline: now THAT’s the PRESENT DAY tragedy of overwhelming magnitude in the US, and yet we sit here foaming about a 150 year old one!
How many died as a result of the expulsion in 1847. How many died after that time because of the shortsightedness of the LDS leaders who let them set out on a disastrous migration without the proper preparation or supplies.
What was the infant or maternal mortality rate in 1847? Why are you attributing all the deaths that happened over a span of many years to the Illinois mob when in actuality many of those deaths would have occured even in the warmth and comfort of Mormon homes in Nauvoo. Mormon propaganda?
And my newspaper states: "All the news that's fit to print."
When did FreeRepublic ever put so much value on the opinion pieces of left-wing rags?
I think hell has frozen over. FreeRepulic has gone topsy-turvy.
Good for you!
It's too bad that many of your fellow LDS organization members use the word "BIGOT" so freely when expressing themselves.
I won’t try to defend the credibility of my sources I linked to in posts 136 and 137.
Not knowing the details of this frontier story, I simply googled those two sites.
I give up!
The Orange County Register is conservative / libertarian. However, it’s hard to find a good conservative film critic.
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