Woman Walks Ahead

There's an emotional sense to the film, the images, direction and dialogue have a honest but poetic tone. Cinematography was beautiful. And it's a tragic and moving subject. The destruction of a varied and rich culture, the nations and the resignation of these indigenous people. I felt the profound loss through the character of Catherine Weldon, the determined painter who was captured by the spirit of Sitting Bull while trying to capture him in paint.

The performances were noteworthy, I always like the projects chosen by Jessica Chastain and Sam Rockwell. And Michael Greyeyes has a lot of charisma portraying Sitting Bull especially with scenes with Jessica.

However, the story does lack in some pacing and factualness. The story was a very loose representation but it still makes it's point in the theme. Some have suggested this a white savior movie and it may well be. Yet, one doesn't take away a sense of pride in any of it. It's still a white story, just a sad and not particularly flattering one.

Entertaining. Well acted. Good cinematography. Slow paced, character-driven, decent script that does have several historical inaccuracies, but also portrays some informative historical facts on the 1887 Dawes Act, the Sioux Bill, the treatment of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux and their leader Sitting Bull, and the unrest in the Dakota Territory. Not sure why it has the R rating, no blatant nudity or language with 2 mildly violent scenes. If you watch, not for historical accuracy, but purely for entertainment value, this is a compelling and enjoyable movie worth 7 stars IMHO! (to get the historically accurate info, I suggest looking up Sitting Bull and Catherine Weldon after watching the film and check out the Imdb trivia posted for this movie) /April 2021.

Well done historical story line between native Indian Chief Sitting Bull and New York socialite and artist Catherine Weldon. The landscape of the western plain fields where the native Indians main food source the buffalo were driven into near extinction, and the Indian reserves were lacking of any form of prosperity painted a picture of how the United States military power were still struggling with the embarrassment of General George Armstrong Custer's complete annihilation in 1876 at Little Big Horn made famous by Sitting Bull's victory and known as Custer's Last Stand.

Jessica Chastain plays American socialite/portrait painter Catherine Weldon and she is desperate to paint the portrait of the great Indian Chief Sitting Bull played exceptionally well by actor Michael Greyeyes. Their friendship grows out of their respective and very different upbringings and life histories as well as their respective stubborn personalities. The symbolism of the white stallion Rico who was given to Sitting Bull by the great westerner Buffalo Bill is not lost on the audience as Catherine Weldon's childhood fear of horses (thus her preference to walk everywhere) is eventually defeated, ironically so is Sitting Bull to whom the audience is sympathetic towards the plight of the Native Indian(s).

This is a simple yet historically valuable film that as I plopped the disc into our Blu Ray player very late at night even Mrs. Shullivan watched intently never falling asleep (which she would normally do) as both of us enjoyed the performances by Jessica Chastain, Michael Greyeyes and Sam Rockwell as well as the historical value of this moment in time in the year of 1890.

I give the film a credible 7 out of 10 IMDB rating.

WOMAN WALKS AHEAD

"Your society values people by how much you have; ours by how much we give away."

The film - 'based on' a true story - focuses on the developing friendship of artist Caroline Weldon with Teton Dakota Indian chief Sitting Bull. The facts of the story have been changed in a way to distort the truth: In 1889, feminist Indian Rights Activist Caroline Weldon from Brooklyn, New York, a member of the National Indian Defense Association, reached out to Sitting Bull as an advocate at a time when tension over several issues including division and sale of parts of the Great Sioux Reservation were high. She made the trip to North Dakota with her son. In the movie, Caroline Weldon came alone as a lonely widow searching for herself, on a mission to paint the portrait of Sitting Bull. Also at this time, a religious "Ghost Dance Movement" was spreading eastward to the Plains; it called on the Indians to dance and chant for the rising up of deceased relatives and return of the buffalo. When the movement reached Standing Rock, the dancers danced at Sitting Bull's camp. The nearby white settlers were alarmed, and Sitting Bull was shot during his arrest.

While I understand that this story focused on the relationship between Catherine and Sitting Bull, so much of their lives were passed over or skewed.

I came away feeling mixed about this movie: the New Mexico landscapes are striking; I enjoyed this look at the life and culture of the Plains Indians; the relationship bewteen Jessica Chastain, (Caroline Weldon), and Michael Greyeyes, (Sitting Bull) was moving, and their acting was strong, but the story was misleading. Still, I think it's a film worth seeing, but I don't understand why this story wasn't told historically as it's such an important piece of history. What did they think they were improving by doing a bait and switch on facts?

This film is very good but it deviates from the facts to such an extent it seems like an entirely different film. Why create a different story. Weldon was divorced, not a widow. Her $ came from her mother, not her father. She was part of the National Indian Defense Association, not an innocent painter. She had a son, who went with her. etc. etc. The real story is just as compelling, maybe even more so.