SEPTEMBER DAWN
An Act of Mass Murder, An Age Of Denial
The PopcornReel.com Movie Review: "September Dawn"
By Omar P.L. Moore/originally written May 19, 2007 -- the film opened on August 22, 2007
The war to come: Mormon gangs and militias, headed by Brigham Young's adopted
son John D. Lee (played by John Gries, second from left.)
Be brave young lovers: Tamara Hope (as Emily) and Trent Ford (as Jonathan), in
Christopher Cain's "September Dawn", which opened on August 24.
(All Photos: Black Diamond Pictures)
Christopher Cain's "September Dawn" is one of the best examples
of a film that doesn't have to do too much. "Just the facts, ma'am" as the
old maxim goes -- and it works reasonably well in a story about events on a
fateful date in U.S. history -- September 11, 1857 -- a date that saw what was
known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre, dubbed as the supposed first act of
"religious terrorism" on American soil (arguably American history has seen many
more such acts prior to 1857) -- the murders of 120 men, women and children in
Utah by a large group of Mormons, some of them disguised as Native Americans.
Some 20 years after the mass killings, the adopted son of Mormon leader Brigham
Young was executed but to this day the Mormon Church in the U.S. insists that
neither Young nor the Mormon Church was responsible for the killings.
At its heart, "Dawn" is a love story embedded into the hotly-disputed events of
1857. The film's young lovers Emily (Tamara Hope) and Jonathan (Trent
Ford) are a "West Side Story"-type of couple, just 100 years earlier than the
musical. Emily is a Gentile, Jonathan a Mormon, and according to Jacob, a
fanatical Mormon bishop (played with all the world's fire and brimstone by Jon
Voight), Gentiles and Mormons don't mix.
Mr. Voight has been at the center of historical events in some of his film
portrayals, such as in "Rosewood", John Singleton's 1997 film about the true
story about the black middle-class business district and city in Florida that
was burned to the ground by poor whites after a young white woman falsely
accused a black man of raping her (she was abused by her own boyfriend, a white
man.) Mr. Voight won an Oscar in the mid-1970's playing a Vietnam veteran
U.S. soldier opposite Jane Fonda in "Coming Home", and was nominated for playing
legendary sports interviewing personality and commentator Howard Cosell in
Michael Mann's "Ali" (2001) opposite Will Smith.
As for Mr. Cain's film, the standard love story (or at least its participants)
will soon be subsumed by the coming horrors of war. "September Dawn" is
interspersed with occasional narrative and flashback recollections by Young
(Terence Stamp).
The drama becomes compelling as the Mormon urgency to defend their "turf"
becomes more desperate. The Mormons seek to win the trust of the Paiute
Indians to ally with them to fight off "gentiles" who had been attacking some in
the Mormon community. But after the Paiute take heavy casualties in a
violent exchange with the Gentile fighters, inevitably the Mormons are on their
own. The film does not shy away from depicting the killings, with scenes
of women and children being shot and stabbed right before the audience's eyes.
Praise the Lord! (and pass the ammunition): Jon Voight as fanatical Mormon
bishop Jacob Samuelson, who speaks loudly and carries a big stick, in
Christopher Cain's "September Dawn." The film opened in the U.S. on Friday,
August 24.
The screenplay, by Carole Whang Schutter and Mr. Cain, also allows for a --
pardon the pun -- Cain and Abel dynamic (between Jonathan and his brother Micah
(played by Taylor Handley) in much the same fashion as did "The Wind That Shakes
The Barley", a film about historical conflict between the colonial invading
English and the Irish released earlier this month -- but it doesn't come into
play until the film's final 30 minutes. "September Dawn" also features
remarkable cinematography from Juan Ruiz-Anchia, and the film's acting is a cut
above adequate.
"September Dawn" is an important film, chronicling a piece of history about
which many Americans may have never been aware. The film is also prescient
today not only because of the ongoing controversy with the Mormon Church
disowning any semblance of responsibility for the Mountain Meadows Massacre in
Utah 150 years ago, but also because killing in the name of someone's god or
religion is still very much alive around the world today -- alas, most recently
cited by the killer in the April 16 murders of 32 people on the
Virginia Tech college campus in the U.S.
One thing to keep in mind: Mr. Cain's film is tense, inspiring awe in its
visions, and angering in its senseless killings, but it is a film to see and a
history lesson to take note of.
"September Dawn" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for
violence. The film's running time is one
hour and 50 minutes. The film is in English and Native American Indian
languages, with some English subtitles. The film also stars Lolita Davidovich, Krisinda Cain and Dean Cain (the Cains are the director's children.)
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. PopcornReel.com. 2007. All Rights
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