Into the West (2005)

How sad is this?

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The acting in this movie is really good.

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.

I started watching this series and it had me hooked from the start.Very good story,well acted,excellent cinematography.It looked like a sure fire winner to me.OK,so the story jumped about a lot and it was hard to follow at times,but when something is as well made as this it didn't really matter.Matthew Settle was impressive just as he was in 'Band of Brothers' and Tonantzin Carmelo exuded elegance and beauty.It was all falling into place,and then it happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!They only went and changed all of the main actor's half way through.The story had moved forward ten years and everything changed.All of the characters that I had just become used to changed!It was a bizarre decision to say the least and completely destroyed the continuity of the series.Couldn't they have just used make up on the original actor's??The flow of the story changed completely and I struggled to care any more.It left me scratching my head and I still don't know why they did it.Absolutely crazy if you ask me.What could have been a really good series was ruined by this truly strange move.Can someone explain to me why it was done?Can you imagine if they had done this with films like 'The Godfather' or 'The Shawshank Redemption'?OK,I know that two actors were used to play Don Corleone.But this obviously had to be done to show him as a young man.No,this was a plain daft thing to do and I still struggle to see why they did it.Could have been an eight at least,but will now have to settle for a much lower score I'm afraid.

If I could give this more than 10, I would, a lot more! It was without a doubt the most exciting, thought-provoking, heartening, historically correct and gripping TV series I have ever had the pleasure of watching. It was lovely to see an unbiased account of what life was like for two sides of the fight, and it was wonderful to really warm to and become fond of the various characters (and trust me, there are plenty). Some would automatically think the second they heard it was produced by Steven Spielberg that it would be all 'airy-fairy' and patriotic, but that sense is not put across at all. The messages are of course heart warming at times and sorrowful at others, but surely that just goes with life?! Furthermore, the visual cinematography and scenes were absolutely phenomenal, and each episode seemed to grip me as intensely as the previous ones had done so. Each second, I felt completely entwined in the action and warming stories being portrayed. It had me crying a lot, but this is the only thing I can find is bad (and its not always a bad thing). It was incredible, and I am going to scream it from the roof tops until it gets the recognition it deserves! I can't help feeling that it was almost wasted on television, but then again we were due a genius new TV series at some point. I loved it! Everyone watch it, buy it, preach it!! It will have you talking about it for years.

I am a South African. I am white. I have been expected to apologize to the blacks in my country for the so called autrocities that the white people performed against the blacks over the ages.Having just viewed this movie and having studied up on the history of various Native American Tribes, this movie, especially episode 6 truly made me sick to my stomach.I want to know if the Americans still bear the guilt they should for the barbaric way the massacred the native population of the country they took from them.If we had followed the same route in Africa, we would not be in the racial problems that we have today. We would have also been a white majority but we did not. We fed them, educated them, gave them the best living standards in Africa but we are still being expected to apologize. As for me, I wont apologize but if history is correct, the Americans of today owe restitution to the Native Americans they treated like animals.Has any such apologies or restitution ever been done in the USA ? I would really like to know.