Into the West (2005)
Steven Spielberg executive produced this TNT miniseries about American Westward expansion during the 19th century. Told from both the perspective of the white Wheeler family and the Native American Lakota tribe, the 12-hour epic follows the clans as they struggle to find their place in a country confounded by turmoil and change.
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
hyped garbage
Brilliant and touching
This is a powerful, emotional, and entertaining telling of major events of the settling of the West, and the clash between white settlers and the various Native tribes spread throughout the Western half of the United States. I stumbled upon the series on youtube, I hadn't previously heard of it, which seems astounding since there are so many well known actors/actresses, and the involvement of Steven Spielberg.One of the things I like about the series is the mysticism and spirituality surrounding the medicine wheel and the buffalo. I know it sounds cliché, but I think it was well done, to have as a central theme the stone medicine wheel of the Sioux and the coming of the wheeled wagons across the west. These wagons really did leave permanent scars on the Earth- where I lived in Wyoming there are still remnants of the Oregon Trail and wagon footprints.And I think many Native tribes did have prophecies about the coming of white people and settlers. The use of native languages is particularly appealing to me- I think to truly understand native cultures of the time you need to hear expressions done in their languages. Some of the prophecies have yet to be decided. It was only 20 years after Wounded Knee that the first world war started, followed by the second. We're now engaged in wars in the middle east which have sometimes been prophecied by natives.So many characters, Thunder Heart Woman and Jacob Wheeler standing out in my opinion (many people did not like the actor portraying Wheeler, but I enjoyed his narration and heart centered actions). The violence of the crow raid, the amazing scenes of the bison hunt, the western scenery, and the telling of important historical events are crucial to the tale. Many Americans are still not knowledgeable about the events.The only criticism is that one family might have been around to see and participate in all the historical events. Otherwise, there of course is creative license, but this is one of the best movies/series about the West I've seen.Recently John Trudell, native artist/activist passed away. I highly recommend his spoken word to those who are interested.
"Into The West" is, in my opinion, some of Steven Spielberg's finest work. Watching the series itself stirred up inside of me mixed emotions-- joy, sadness, anger, and so forth. Spielberg did a pretty darn good job in capturing how the West was shaped and more specifically the people who risked their lives in shaping it. I only wish that he would have at least given some small amount of attention to the black cowboys of the West, who played just as significant a role as anyone. Overall it was definitely worth watching, and since I have purchased the DVD I plan on watching it again. I am not sure when or if it will ever be on television again, but if it does, I suggest to anyone who is fed up with repeats of other shows due to the writer's strike to tune in.
I expected a lot of this mini-series, because Steven Spielberg was the executive producer. And you notice that when you watch this series. The direction is very good! This series must have cost a lot of money, because it's excellently filmed. Very interesting is, that the series shows the situation in a different way. Not like in a traditional western, where the Americans are the hero's and the Indians are the stupid barbarians. Nicely done! Again a very good product by Steven Spielberg! But sometimes the English that is spoken, is difficult to understand, certainly when there are no subtitles. But nevertheless, very good mini-series!
Although the US has not a recorded history of 2000 years,there weren't less chaos and misery as it grew up.The west before exploration was almost an alien land of this planet for white settlers.Rifles cables railway and diseases changed all of these,and destroyed the world where simple innocent Indians lived.We who survive a regular society today hardly suppose things occurred 150 years ago.Everybody could pick up golds on the riverbed,raid fortune no matter whom it belonged to,kill "savages" with decrees from the "Washington Father".That was how the western part of the country began,with the efforts by Chinese,Indians,Irish,Germen,Italians and so on,beyond races,religions,languages,sabotaging old peoples,merging a new people,far from freedom and democracy.(Somehow Chinese do contribute to the US,which was scarcely mentioned)Spielburg gave us a mini picture of the Wheelers as well as America,which shock me and let me know the other side of America.We can't blame ancestors for what they had done in the old days but we can surely understand what we can do today on the earth.