Le Crépuscule des braves

From the title, I expected a good overview of the Buffalo Soldiers. Instead, we get a drawn out, soap-opera-ish tale of hunting down a single Indian villain. Since I missed the first minute or two of opening credits, this script may have been pure fiction for all I know. As one complaint, there is no mention of John Pershing's (of World War I fame) association with these troops.

As could be expected, the wrongs and conflicts from racism are well set forth. Nonetheless, the Buffalo Soldiers, many ex-slaves, proudly risk their lives and stay in the cavalry by choice.

The acting is commendable, particularly that of Danny Glover as the central character. Some '90s idioms (the 1990s, that is) find their way into the dialog.

Given the title and the general ignorance (myself included) about the Buffalo Soldiers, this tv movie was very disappointing. Surely, these men did a lot more on the frontier than they are credited with here.

All the usual whiners about "political correctness" are, of course, missing the point. Buffalo Soldiers doesn't suffer for showing the truth about racial disparity. It suffers for only showing some of that truth while at the same time being dramatically weak.

For instance, it's obvious the Whites are for the most part either outright hostile to the Black and Native Americans -- which is historically accurate -- or else treating them as invisible -- which is also historically accurate. The whiners may not like that, but maybe they need to take that up with their culture.

Where the story falls down is in not fully examining the combined racism toward the Native Americans. Now, it's historically true that there was less animosity among the minorities toward each other in the old west, including the Black, Asian, and Native Americans stuck there. That doesn't mean there was universal peace, but minorities were allowed to marry one another, for instance, while they were shunned or forbidden to marry someone who was not a minority. But this film, in focusing on the racial tensions between the Whites and Blacks, generally overlooks their combined hostility toward the Native Americans.

The other problem is the script is wildly uneven, lacking much dramatic weight. Oh, yes, there are some tense scenes, but they're also frequently undermined by melodramatic dialogue that reminds you you're watching a TV movie. The pacing is not like a film but more like a few episodes of a TV series hastily patched together.

As with a lot of film and television of the past 40 or so years, more attention is paid to the technical aspects than the artistic ones. So, for instance, they get the uniforms and weapons basically right. They film on location. If as much time and effort were spent on polishing the script and editing the finished product, it might have been much better.

In the post-Civil War world, Texas Rangers track Apache war chief Victorio across the border to the federal New Mexico Territories. Sgt. Washington Wyatt (Danny Glover) leads the all negro US Cavalry H Troop. He arrests the Rangers for trespassing and murder. Commander Gen. Pike looks down on the colored troops and their command abilities. He puts southerner Maj. Robert Carr (Timothy Busfield) in charge despite his unwillingness to lead them. Col. Benjamin Grierson is a more supportive officer. John Horse (Carl Lumbly) is the native guide. Victorio is on the loose and on the attack.

This is an interesting and little told American history. There are compelling stories to be told. It would have been more interesting to have more diverse personalities in the colored troops. They are almost all stoic which leaves the group rather flat. I would also love to see the other side of the story from Victorio's point of view. Of course, that may make it too complicated. This is still a very compelling TV movie.

"Buffalo Soldiers' is an average western/adventure entry that tell a story about a troop in the U.S. Army after the Civil War exclusively for black soldiers. Based on this historical point, the movie is concerned with some crucial aspects of these arrangements: the bad treatment that was given to the black soldiers by some of the white officials, the evident absurdity of serve in the U.S Army, die for the country and not receive an equal treatment and some other minor stuffs. 'Buffalo Soldiers' tries to do that without lose the sense of adventure and action along the way. Here, the success is just mild. Sometimes, you feel that the dialogs are a bit too dialectical, too political, to be really natural. And the ending is a bit too unreal, maybe, especially when one considers the shape of conscience of the sergeant-major, played by Danny Golver. All considered, that is not a bad movie. But its commitment to discuss aspects like freedom, self-conscience, compassion and respect for the Apache culture, weighed the movie a bit too heavy. Good performances all around, especially Carl Lumbly as the scout named Horse.

This film may be a tribute to the African American soldiers but at times it is almost racist. All white men are portrayed as evil while all buffalo soldiers are noble. Even the scout is a black Seminole which is not historically accurate as most scouts at this time were recruited from reservation apaches. the movie also has African American soul music playing over some of the scenes. the movie itself is exciting and a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon but it gets bogged down in the trumpeting of the black soldiers as 'nobler' than their white counterparts.

if you want a realistic portrayal of the Apache wars watch 'Ulzana's Raid' with Burt Lancaster or 'The Missing' with Tommy Lee Jones

Overall i found this movie enjoyable but irritating at times. it is full of 1990's political correctness but could do with this being played down a bit.