Watched this last night. I avoided it for years, perhaps unfairly, due to how bad Dances with Wolves was and it's monstrous inaccuracies.
Geronimo the movie isn't a true story, but has no problem with the audience thinking it is. It's portrayal of events is infinitely better than Dances with Wolves, but still pretty far from reality. I expected the movie to provide a sympathetic view of the man, and they did, but I also expected them to trash the U.S. Army. They did not. They showed both of them as both good and bad. Which was refreshing.
It is a decent movie, good story, great cast, As a movie I would give it good props. As a historical movie, it fails.
Geronimo was not a good guy. A mass murderer often using draconian ways of committing murder. Torturing people for hours on end while his group would essentially party around them. The movie portrays him as an honest, noble warrior who just wanted to protect his people and their land. In part that is certainly true. But he also did more of his own fair share of treachery in America and Mexico.
Geronimo is without argument the most violent chief in Apache known history. His only interest was to raid anyone and everyone he could. Attacking other tribes at will and stealing their provisions, horses and often women.
Also he never spoke English. It was required for captured Indians to speak English. He never did. Also, only briefly mentioned in the movie was Mexico's part in the annihilation of the Apache Nation. The Mexican government went on slave runs to use in mining. The Mexicans used Indians for slaves for 200 years before Americans made their way west. Also greatly understated, was the role Indians played in capturing other Indians. It only showed the Indians as scouts, when in reality often Indian soldiers outnumbered the white soldiers when attacking war parties. Indeed, without Indian American soldiers - America wouldn't have won. Afterall, it took 1/4 of America's entire army to capture Geronimo...which was actually one of the smallest groups of Indians there was.
Geronimo the movie isn't a true story, but has no problem with the audience thinking it is. It's portrayal of events is infinitely better than Dances with Wolves, but still pretty far from reality. I expected the movie to provide a sympathetic view of the man, and they did, but I also expected them to trash the U.S. Army. They did not. They showed both of them as both good and bad. Which was refreshing.
It is a decent movie, good story, great cast, As a movie I would give it good props. As a historical movie, it fails.
Geronimo was not a good guy. A mass murderer often using draconian ways of committing murder. Torturing people for hours on end while his group would essentially party around them. The movie portrays him as an honest, noble warrior who just wanted to protect his people and their land. In part that is certainly true. But he also did more of his own fair share of treachery in America and Mexico.
Geronimo is without argument the most violent chief in Apache known history. His only interest was to raid anyone and everyone he could. Attacking other tribes at will and stealing their provisions, horses and often women.
Also he never spoke English. It was required for captured Indians to speak English. He never did. Also, only briefly mentioned in the movie was Mexico's part in the annihilation of the Apache Nation. The Mexican government went on slave runs to use in mining. The Mexicans used Indians for slaves for 200 years before Americans made their way west. Also greatly understated, was the role Indians played in capturing other Indians. It only showed the Indians as scouts, when in reality often Indian soldiers outnumbered the white soldiers when attacking war parties. Indeed, without Indian American soldiers - America wouldn't have won. Afterall, it took 1/4 of America's entire army to capture Geronimo...which was actually one of the smallest groups of Indians there was.
