disturbing september dawn
Utah “Dawn” Offers Bitter History Lesson
September Dawn
(R for violence; 111 minutes)
Before 2001, the most heinous September 11 in American history must have been in 1857. That’s when an army of Utah settlers massacred some 120 westward travelers for the crime of passing through their turf without following their religion.
At least, that’s the way it goes down in “September Dawn,” a rugged Western (shot in Alberta, Canada) that’s terrifying in its narrative yet mystifying because of its huge, unanswerable question: Why would anyone do that to a bunch of harmless families seeking a better life?
If you reply that this might relate to modern instances of homicidal religious zealotry, you’re getting to a point that the filmmakers clearly want to make.
The film is fiction — a stark dramatization of a little-known event, clouded by 150 years of controversy and imagination.
The controversy continues today because the killers were a Mormon militia. And while the church doesn’t exactly deny the shameful moment occurred, it’s not pleased to have the matter brought up in a way that casts it in such dark light.
Director Chris Cain – who explored a more prominent bit of history with “Young Guns” — wrote the script with Carole Whang Schutter, based on her novel. The tale of brutal murder is wound into a Romeo-Juliet subplot involving the son of the resident firebrand preacher (Jon Voight at his menacing, bearded best) and a girl from the doomed wagon train. Terence Stamp intensifies the sense of menace as Brigham Young, the stern Mormon leader, still angry about how his people were treated back East.
With its splendid scenery, gruff characters and modern inferences, “September Dawn” is sad, disturbing yet hard to turn away from. It’s a welcome alternative to typical summer fluff — one that you won’t forget on your way through the cineplex parking lot.
We give it a B.
Tags: film, review
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