American Masters (TV Series) Edward Curtis: Coming to Light (2000) User Reviews

Excellent documentary

[conannz · 9/10 · 6 September 2000]

On the life and times of Edward Curtis. Ed's project spanned decades and combined painstaking research with total dedication to the task at hand. Looking at his photo's reveals life as it was in the early part of the century for many forgotten ways and times.

Interesting subject standard format

[jacob thomas · 7 October 2001]

Anne Makepeace has produced an interesting and informative documentary about Edward S. Curtis a fascinating character in America's history. However, while the film shows his fantastic photography and the contradictions of their production as ethnographic records, I found myself falling asleep due to the lackluster technical approach Makepeace adopted. Endless zooms and pans into and around the photos details, hardly uses the capabilities of film, the combination of movement and sound, effectively. The ambiguities of Curtis' life were the only thing keeping me awake in the cinema, despite these criticisms I think this documentary may work better on the small screen where we expect this type of documentary. If only Makepeace had been as innovative and interesting as Curtis, then perhaps she would really do him justice in this documentary.

A delicate and illuminating history

[carolin-shining · 10/10 · 20 January 2013]

The life of Edward Curtis is given a direct and delicate accounting by Anne Makepeace as she weaves together hundreds of photographs, rare archival video and modern interviews with Curtis' subjects. Tracing his growth as an artist, photographer, historian and "amateur" ethnographer, this film balances many sensitive issues of race, culture and the displacement of the American Indian. Makepeace follows Curtis as he travels to see and honestly record cultures at the same time as they disappeared. One of the commentators in the movie points out how difficult it must have been for his subjects to have their historical ceremonies banned, to have people ask them to perform them and to wonder what was happening all at the same time. At the same time, we learn the immense sacrifices that Curtis made to stay with this project as his all-consuming life's work and how it came to nearly destroy him as well.

I truly enjoyed this movie. Many films about Curtis and this time period needlessly dramatize the events but Makepeace has a calm and even hand. I recommend it to anyone wishing to learn about native cultures without hype, but with a personal, intimate perspective. I look forward to watching more of her work.