There are several aspects of this film that have to be taken and rated separately. The settings, the acting, the music, everything is spot on from the viewpoint of the film production.
Then there is the subject, one worth knowing and it alone making this movie worth it, however it is a grueling story to endure, for the entire length of this film, which is over three hours. If you had any doubts about the systematic eradication of the Native Americans through any means by the colonists, as recent as the 1920s, when the story takes place, this film is going to dispel them. It will show you human greed and ugliness to levels that are hard to suffer. You will have to witness this filth without any redeeming qualities for the people involved, no entertainment value in the story.
Based on a non-fiction book written by a reporter, these are real events, presented slowly and methodically, without anything that would make the film entertaining. And while mentioning the slowness and the length, let me also tell you that the film ends with a radio show like production of 20 minutes that storytells the ending. So, after three hours of basically psychological torture and snuff porn, Martin Scorsese needed to summarize what went on next, otherwise there would have been another three hours I guess.
Bottom line: a dramatized documentary you need emotional fortitude to go through, and at the end all you get to feel is despair and no hope for humanity.
Then there is the subject, one worth knowing and it alone making this movie worth it, however it is a grueling story to endure, for the entire length of this film, which is over three hours. If you had any doubts about the systematic eradication of the Native Americans through any means by the colonists, as recent as the 1920s, when the story takes place, this film is going to dispel them. It will show you human greed and ugliness to levels that are hard to suffer. You will have to witness this filth without any redeeming qualities for the people involved, no entertainment value in the story.
Based on a non-fiction book written by a reporter, these are real events, presented slowly and methodically, without anything that would make the film entertaining. And while mentioning the slowness and the length, let me also tell you that the film ends with a radio show like production of 20 minutes that storytells the ending. So, after three hours of basically psychological torture and snuff porn, Martin Scorsese needed to summarize what went on next, otherwise there would have been another three hours I guess.
Bottom line: a dramatized documentary you need emotional fortitude to go through, and at the end all you get to feel is despair and no hope for humanity.