I attended a screening of this film last night and was sorely disappointed. The film is billed as a Romeo and Juliet story set against the historical backdrop of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. In the beginning, when it became clear that rather than a morally ambiguous Montague vs. Capulet story the filmmakers intended to contrast the Protestant "Good Guys" with the Mormon "Evil Guys" I thought they were being heavy-handed. Then I got to the actual massacre scene--an extremely lengthy scene, filmed all in slow motion with the camera lingering lovingly on the anonymous dying children. I walked into the film willing to agree with its premise--that Brigham Young was involved in planning the killings--but I found the portrayal of every Mormon as a demon and every settler as a saint to be over the top. The film claims to be an historical drama, but there is little history to be found here--only vitriol.
All that aside, this is still a horrible film. It is filmed in shaky d.v. The dialogue is unnatural and awkward across the board. The pacing is slow and boring with no story to support it. The characters are two-dimensional and unbelievable. The filmmakers are so interested in setting up a good vs. evil struggle that they eagerly put anachronistic ideas into the mouths of their 1850s settlers, especially the minister and his daughter. Indeed, my wife noted that the two groups portrayed in the film are 19th century anti-American Mormon zealots and 21st century American Protestant moderates.
I have tried in vain to find something redeeming about this film. The visual quality is low, the writing is cringe-worthy except where it's dreadfully boring, and the historical story has been compromised by the propaganda-ish treatment. Frankly, I think that there may be truth to the conspiracy theory that September Dawn was only made to prevent Americans from voting for a certain Mormon presidential candidate. Avoid this film.
All that aside, this is still a horrible film. It is filmed in shaky d.v. The dialogue is unnatural and awkward across the board. The pacing is slow and boring with no story to support it. The characters are two-dimensional and unbelievable. The filmmakers are so interested in setting up a good vs. evil struggle that they eagerly put anachronistic ideas into the mouths of their 1850s settlers, especially the minister and his daughter. Indeed, my wife noted that the two groups portrayed in the film are 19th century anti-American Mormon zealots and 21st century American Protestant moderates.
I have tried in vain to find something redeeming about this film. The visual quality is low, the writing is cringe-worthy except where it's dreadfully boring, and the historical story has been compromised by the propaganda-ish treatment. Frankly, I think that there may be truth to the conspiracy theory that September Dawn was only made to prevent Americans from voting for a certain Mormon presidential candidate. Avoid this film.