10/03/2012

"A road that didn´t take just one day"

Title: Into the West  
Year: 2005  
Genre: Western, Adventure, Drama, History 
Format: Miniseries 
Director: Robert Dornhelm, Simon Wincer, Sergio Mimicca-Gezzan, Michael W. Watkins and Timothy Van Patten 
Writer: William Mastrosimone, Cyrus Nowrasteh, Craig Storper and Kirk Ellis 
Runtime: 552min 
Cast: Matthiew Settle, Skeet Ulrich, Michael Spears, Tonantzin Carmelo, George Leach, Zahn McClarnon, Simon R. Baker, Sean Blakemore, Josh Brolin, Garey Busey, Will Patton, Francesco Quinn, Geno Silva, Alan Tudyk, Beau Bridges, Jessica Capshaw, Emily Holmes, Robert Maloney, Keri Russell, Jay Tavare, Nathaniel Arcand, Sean Astin, Irene Bedard, Gil Birmingham, Tyler Christopher, Balthazar Getty, Daniel Gillies, Graham Greene, Christian Kane, Russell Means, Matthiew Modine, Tyler Posey, John Terry, Sheila Tousey, Rachael Lee Cook, Annabella Piugattuk, Tom Berenger, Wes Studi
Budget: $50 million approx. 

In Into the West, through two families, one white and the other of native americans, we are told the process by which the white man would eventually end up taking over the entire territory of the United States. 
Steven Spielberg serves as executive producer in this six-part miniseries, which runs from 1820 to 1890. It shows the endless fight between these two races, held during the conquest of the west, and the final fall of the indians. 
Jacob Wheeler (Matthiew Settle) is a young wheelwright, who early in the century lives and works in the fictional Wheelerton, Virginia, with his family. One day, a mountaineer speaks wonders of the western frontier, and Jacob decides to leave home and go to see it. He is accompanied, on this trip, by his brother Nathan (Alan Tudyk). 
In another setting we have the Lakotas, whose elderly medicine man, Growling Bear (Gordon Tootoosis), has had a disturbing vision. He has been informed of what will happen if things follow the current course. Very soon there will come a day when there are no more buffalos on the prairies. 
To something so controversial, Soaring Eagle (Gerald Auger), his apprentice, manages to convince the tribe to ignore this prophecy. Meanwhile, the small White Feather (Chevez Ezaneh) intends to investigate this on his own. Shortly before his death, Growling Bear gives him a necklace that symbolizes the Lakota medicine wheel. This will pass from generation to generation, in every episode. 
Going back to Jacob, our character manages to find legendary explorer Jedediah Smith (Josh Brolin), where fiction (Jacob) and reality (Smith) are combined. After even confronting together with death, they separate. Jacob ends up taking part in an auction, where for sale there is an indian girl. He, like the other bidders, gives higher figures every time, not hesitating to clarify his aim of freeing the captive, and that amuses anyone. Jacob is challenged to a duel and comes out victorious, then him and the indian Thunder Heart Woman (Tonantzin Carmelo) take the way to the Lakotas. Already in the tribe, Jacob hopes to make her his wife, finding no opposition. Jacob and her get married, and a few years later, they are the happy parents of Abraham High Wolf, Jacob Jr. High Cloud and Margaret Light Shines. 
Each chapter provides an opportunity to care and learn about the historical background of the United States, while one is entertained by spectacularly recreated battle scenes, between indians and white men. Also, there´s the various sub plots, which are always uniting, one another, it´s characters. With the advance of the narrative, the first protagonists, whites or lakotas, cease to be the ones to be directly affected by the circumstances, becoming the new generations, the ones living the new changes. 
Thanks to an extremely carefully writing, has been that the times that this miniseries granted to every detail were correct. From the arrival to California and Oregon, conducted by Jedediah Smith and his group of riders (1826), until such moments as the invention of the telegraph (1844), the election of Lincoln (1860) or the patenting of the barbed wire ( 1874). 
However, beyond the anecdotal of any significant date, it should be clear what is the central, intended purpose. Here, it is seek, more than anything, that we see and understand, how exactly would be that the white man would classify as "his", this territory, which in fact had already got an owner. Luckily, it is not made the mistake of showing all whites as bad people, something that would have been unfair and untrue. The miniseries works a lot with the nuances, showing those whose desire was clearly to conquer, and those who had only wanted peace. It also explains the various reasons that would prevent the indians from defeating this cruel enemy. 
Into the West is, in my opinion, the most entertaining of the history courses. The kind that one would never want, to reach its end. 

My rating: 9/10


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