It's no secret that movies mix a lot of fiction with the facts. This film seems to have rubbed both history buffs and fans of the book the wrong way, but I thought it was a compelling, evocative film nevertheless.

Starting off where most movies end, at a CGI created overhead shot of The Little Big Horn (!),this instead focuses on the final years of the Unions war against the Indian nations, culminating in the massacre at Wounded Knee.

There's a really great role for Adam Beach, as a young Souix doctor, who's father turned his back on the native ways and sent him to live amongst whites at a young age, stripping him of his identity.

August Schellenberg is excellent here as Sitting Bull, who's determination and pride stokes the anger of the powers that be, including Aiden Quinn, a sympathetic but patronizing Senator who has taken it upon himself to lead the Indians on a path to "civilization".

Anyone who watched the myriad Cavalry pictures and Little Big Horn epics should see this and find out how the whole sad story ends.

I'll have to admit that I tried reading Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" on two separate occasions, the last time quite recently, and I found it to be VERY dry. Perhaps that was only in the early going, but I wasn't able to complete it both times. As for the film, I came across it quite by accident at my local library, not being an HBO subscriber. If I had my druthers, I guess I'd side with those reviewers who feel a more complete story could have been told using a mini-series format. However given the medium, it's a compelling film that highlights the plight of the Native American Indian in the dying days of the Old West, and with it, the death knell of a proud warrior people.

I recently visited the James Fenimore Cooper Museum in Cooperstown, New York, and at the time, actual Sioux drawings were on exhibit depicting the Battle at Little Big Horn. Watching the aerial view of the attack on screen suddenly put into perspective the circular rendition of an artist's rendering on a full size tee-pee. It was like seeing a painting come to life with a soaring eagle's eye, perhaps devoid of detail, but breathtaking in it's panoramic perspective on the immensity of the battle. Not to mention the hopelessness of Custer's cause.

The film can be absolutely depressing at times with it's depiction of outright slaughter, and perhaps even more so once the Sioux tribes are relegated to reservation life. We get to see how the 'Every Man a Chief' designation, though sounding completely egalitarian, works to strip away a proud chief's identity and status within his nation. I'm actually glad that the film didn't explore Sitting Bull's Wild West Show days with Buffalo Bill. Fortunately, he was able to reaffirm his own dignity with the 'one last time' confrontation against Senator Dawes (Aidan Quinn),a legacy that remains standing to this day.

Nice performances all around by Aidan Quinn as Senator Dawes, Adam Beach as the conflicted Ohiyesa/Charles Eastman, and August Schellenberg as Sitting Bull. President Grant came and went too quickly for me to recognize Fred Thompson under the beard, a trait he might also suffer as a Presidential contender unless he gets that fire in the belly.

Does "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" go overboard on trying to humanize its subjects (or making them palatable to a TV audience)? Whether or not it does is beside the point. The point here is that we white people have to own up to our genocide against the Indians and theft of their land. Even if it takes a less-than-masterful movie like this one, something needs to remind us of that. The movie focuses specifically on a Sioux (Adam Beach) who takes the name Charles Eastman and studies medicine, but upon seeing what the white people's westward expansion does to his people tries to get Sen. Henry Dawes (Aidan Quinn) to listen.

I recommend it just because it shows what happened to the Indians. I repeat: we white people need to admit what we did and start atoning for it. Also starring J.K. Simmons, Wes Studi, August Schellenberg and Anna Paquin.