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pmoul1219
Reviews
September Dawn (2007)
A tragic historical event spiced up with an unlikely love story
This is a story that needs telling, and perhaps a bare documentary would have gone unnoticed. I was bothered, however, by the introduction of an unlikely horse-breaking scene, a subsequent act of remarkable generosity, and a love-at-first-sight romance. These run counter to the actual events and distort the nature of the massacre. Apart from that I liked the portrayal very much. It does a good job of portraying the distrust the Mormons had of the rest of the nation, including the government, of their resentment toward Missouri and toward the mob that murdered Joseph Smith in Illinois, and the failure of the government that had him in its custody.
Although the movie was shot in Alberta, the scenery is not unlike that in the Mountain Meadows area, except, of course, for the lake or river in which the young emigrant was able to bathe. I could be mistaken, but I don't think there is one.
Among Brothers (2005)
Disappointing
The film is about an unsolved crime, but in the film itself there is nothing unsolved about it; the crime is shown in all its gory detail. With what the police are presumed to have known, one would imagine that the investigation could have been completed. At the least, the police could have pursued it with far greater diligence than they did.
Why was the investigation placed on hold? Why, if it is a true story, does it make accusations which have to be libelous? Why, if it is only suggested by a true story is there no disclaimer? Why does the story jump from a police interrogation to an ordinary campus graduation scene some time later? A film doesn't have to answer all the questions it raises: movies such as Cache leave a lot unanswered, for instance. In this one, however, the gaps add nothing; they are just gaps.