September Dawn Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Not bad

Obvioulsy the story around this tragedy was invented ,, however the massacre is real and since I had never heard of it before it made me research it which is always a good thing.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Interesting portrayal of real event

this was a good movie but could have been better. I don't know much about this real life incident but having now read a little about it I realise that this film gives a biased viiew - although certainly there was much wrongdoing on the part of the Mormons and in a way it sanitizes a horrific event in American history. It contains a love story which for me was slightly inplausable given the deep unyiielding beliefs at the the time. Generally the cast were good and carried the script - even the old timers Stamp and Voight played theiir parts with deluded conviction. I love cowboys films and the wild west so this was an enjoyavle movie for me. Wont win any oscars but worth a watch.

[Highly rated reviewer]

REALLY ENJOYABLE

Really enjoyed this film. I found it very intresting and the love story in it made it also more enjoyable i think as it added to the story. Would reccomend!

September Bored!

Painfully dull, all 5 minutes I managed prior to my relapse!

September Dawn

An excellent film with an amazing insight into early Mormonism, if this brilliant film is really based on truth, { no wonder the church of latter day saints deny it happened as many of the beliefs stated in this film stand today.} We were sad to see the gentile 'love' being killed by the boys father just when the son thought that his betrothed was safe. The teachings of Jesus tell us to turn the other cheek and to show love and compassion. I do know and appreciate, that ,this is a film which has free licence, but the travellers on their way to California, showed Christian values as opposed to those who chose to murder them because they believed God ordained it ???????

The sequence of events as the story unfolded made compelling viewing although it was shocking to see such heinous crimes being committed. This film had a bit of everything in it

Excellent story.

Very good acting with a storyline based on fact. An incident in american history I was unaware of. Would recommend this to anyone who likes a film of substance. Shows the downside of some religous groupings.

September Yawn...

Oh dear, oh dear. I was so looking forward to this movie. Jon Voight and Terence Stamp are extremely capable actors, and I had high expectations. Sadly, my expectations were dashed in the early stages of the film, and never really recovered.

It’s always a bit worrying, when a film that opens with the words “inspired by actual events” places at its core a completely fictitious character. The Bishop Samuelson character, played by Jon Voight, is entirely fictitious, although there are suggestions that he is a composite character loosely based on several actual individuals. If this character is fictitious or, at best, a composite character, then, surely his two sons depicted in the film must also be fictitious. As one, or more, of these characters is central to the majority of the film’s scenes, then the authenticity or, certainly, the accuracy of the film must be brought into question.

Was there a massacre of approximately 120 men women and children at the site of Mountain Meadows on 11 September 1857? Yes there was. Were Mormon settlers of the Utah Territory involved in that massacre? Yes, without a doubt. These are the facts, but, for me at least, it seems that there are too many unknowns about the lead up to the massacre, and the actual involvement of specific individuals, to warrant a film of this nature. I suppose that my main concern is that, as with so many other “historical dramas”, there is a danger that movie audiences may accept what they see, without question, making films such as this very dangerous indeed.

Although, clearly, the massacre of innocent men, women and children is inexcusable, any attempt to portray the reasons for, and the thinking behind, the massacre needs to be approached with caution and considered within a wider context. The movie’s obsession with “blood atonement” and the ‘Jihadist’ nature of the attack (the film’s publicity in the US relied heavily on the fact that the massacre occurred on September 11th) is far too simplistic an approach, as there were clearly many, many, other factors that, if considered within the film at all, were over simplified.

For example, the film suggests, briefly, that the Mormon “hatred” of the Missourians was based purely upon the treatment of the former leader of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith (who was actually killed in Illinois, but artistic license provides an opportunity for the Director’s son, Superman - Dean Cain, to take on a terribly miscast role during some very poorly filmed flashback scenes). It fails to mention, or glosses over, the full extent of the murders and atrocities that were a part of the experience of many of the Mormon settlers in Missouri and the fact that some 10,000 Mormons were driven from that State, many of them by force, following the issue of Governor Bogg’s “extermination order”.

Neither does the film address the general unease, and lack of trust, felt by the Mormon settlers, who, at the time of the events depicted in the film, were fully aware of an approaching Army of 2,500 troops, dispatched by President Buchanan, to forcibly restore the Utah Territory to US control. These, and other issues, are mentioned at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_mass acre, a good starting point for a basic understanding of the time.

I’m not trying to defend the atrocity of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Such acts cannot be defended, but they should, at least, be understood, in context, and this film does little to provide any real understanding. It portrays the members of the Baker-Fancher as a smiling Gospel Choir, and the Mormons as the bloodthirsty forerunners to the Nazi Party. History is rarely so clear cut, and the makers of this film have clearly abandoned the complexities of history in favour of sensationalism.

On the whole, the film is poorly conceived, poorly researched, poorly written, poorly directed, poorly acted, poorly edited, riddled with inaccuracies and assumptions and, ultimately, a very poor lesson in history. Considering those involved in its making, I had expected so much more, but there is absolutely nothing that can redeem this poor excuse for a film…not even the addition of a completely unbelievable love story.

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Saints they ain't - the Holocaust of 1857

This is a sad tale of a so-called christian cult luring another group of christians into a false sense of security so they could murder all 150+ men, women, children and babies of a wagon train.

It also has a love story of a Mormon falling in love with a girl settler. This subplot adds some sweetness to a distressing tale. Historically it does seem at least one Mormon turned State's evidence of the massacre. There were also disturbing parallels with more recent history.

There is the betrayal of a large group of people, lied to into believing they were being given safe passage.

Afterwards the perpetrators help themselves to the dead's personal possessions, including watches and the rings off their fingers.

I also read after watching the film, that surviving children were farmed out to Mormon families.

Only a single subordinate (who protested he was doing his duty) was convicted and executed for an atrocity which seems to have been planned, executed and kept secret among the leadership of the Church of Latter Day Saints.