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Reviews
American Masters: Edward Curtis: Coming to Light (2000)
A delicate and illuminating history
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.