Opening Film

BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE

Synopsis

Based on Dee Brown’s bestselling novel, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee powerfully explores the economic,

political and social pressures that underpinned the opening of the American West and the tragic impact this expansion had on American Indian culture.
This epic and sweeping film intertwines the unique perspectives of three historic 19th century characters: Charles Eastman, né Ohiyesa, a young, college-educated, Sioux doctor held up as living proof of the alleged success of assimilation; Sitting Bull, the proud Lakota chief who refuses to submit to U.S. government policies designed to strip his people of their identity, their dignity and their sacred land – the gold-laden Black Hills of the Dakotas; and Senator Henry Dawes, who was one of the architects of the government policy on Indian affairs.

While Eastman and patrician schoolteacher Elaine Goodale work to improve life for the Indians on the reservation, Senator Dawes lobbies President Grant for more humane treatment, opposing the bellicose stance of the military. Hope rises for the Indians in the form of the Ghost Dance, a messianic movement that promises an end of their suffering under the white man. This hope is obliterated after the assassination of Sitting Bull and the massacre of hundreds of Indian men, women and children by the 7th Cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek on Dec. 29, 1890.

Credits
Director	Yves Simoneau
Screenplay	Daniel Giat
Based on the book by	Dee Alexander Brown
Executive Producers	Tom Thayer, Dick Wolf
Co-Executive Producer	Yves Simoneau
Producer	Clara George
Director of Photography	David Franco
Editors	Michael Ornstein, A.C.E. Michael Brown, A.C.E.
Production Designer	Ian Thomas
Art Director	D.A. Menchions
Music	George S. Clinton
Music Supervisor	Evyen J Klean
Costume Designer	Mario Davignon
Sound	George F. Tarrant
Casting	Rene Haynes, CSA
Cast
Aidan Quinn, Adam Beach, August Schellenberg, Eric Schweig, J.K. Simmons, Wes Studi, Colm Feore, Gordon Tootoosis, Fred Thompson, Anna Paquin
Information
Distribution	HBO Enterprises
Genre	Television film