We rented and watched the HBO production Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Sunday evening. The opening sequence which quickly leads to the Battle of Little Big Horn held much promise as a helicopter moved from Sitting Bull's called encampment of thousands of Native Americans across the hills to the battlefield where an arrogant Custer led his hungry and somewhat naive soldiers to their deaths.
I agree with most of the reviews I read (after last night's viewing): the movie tries to cover too much difficult to understand, little-known, carefully nuanced epic history in too little time. I felt that characters were not carefully developed and there was simply too much assumption that the audience knew the history. In fact, I'm fairly sure that the "artistic license" taken by the producers distorted history. For instance, there was an attempt to show a connection between the arrest and killing of Sitting Bull and the Wounded Knee massacre; this connection is, no doubt, direct. However, the events are morphed into one with no real time lapse between them.
What is most missed by this Impressionistic view, is the pitiful plight of the poor, sick, starving Ghost Dancers at Wounded Knee and their fatally ill leader, Bigfoot, suffering from tuberculosis, leading from a reclining position in a wagon. The emphasis on Dawes' project and the Washington politics surrounding the events strip the story of its pathos and its spirituality.
Once again, a lack of communication between two cultures has resulted in another failed attempt at reconciliation.
I can't help but feel that what is called for is an act of contrition and repentance on the part of the White offenders. Movies, art, music, even stories, may set the stage, raise awareness and even provoke but repentance is not an artistic act. It is an act of the will and the heart of a people. And of its leaders.
1 comment:
Sister Kim - I don't believe that I have the power to repent of sin that someone else committed. I can pray for the sinner, but I cannot be forgiven in his stead. This would take away personal responsibility for another's sin. ??? So then, how and why am I responsible for something someone else has done? (Ezekiel 18:18) Also, I would say that it takes two willing parties to have genuine reconciliation. If there is no prejudice in our heart and we have nothing but total positive regard for our fellow man, yet he/she refuses to let the past go, what can we do? As for me, what I try to do is take personal responsibility to make sure that I do not allow the prejudice of others to influence my decisions and thus cause me to sin.
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