"September Dawn" is propaganda pure and simple. In fact, it features the greatest vilification of a religious group since "The Passion of the Christ."
In September 1857, a Mormon militia, along with a group of natives, gunned down a wagon train heading from Arkansas to California.
Writer and director Christopher Cain must have some type of personal vendetta, because he takes this tragic event and turns the entire religion into a group of bloodthirsty lunatics based solely upon an event whose facts are not even entirely certain.
Now I am not a religious person, nor am I affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I have a hard time believing that a roving band of church leaders cut a man's scrotum off and hung it on his wall just because he was having an affair, or anyone praying for the death of a group of people during a pre-meal prayer.
Ridiculous amount of propaganda aside, "September Dawn" still has major flaws. At its heart, the film tries to be a love story along the lines of Romeo and Juliet. However, the entire thing is extremely trite and feels tacked on in order to justify all the Mormon bashing.
To make matters worse, the entire story takes place in either a flashback or a flashback within a flashback; it is not exactly clear which. Confused? Unfortunately things never get much clearer.
A large portion of the movie is devoted to flashbacks from inside the initial flashback or possibly the second one. These double or triple flashbacks generally feature poorly lit scenes full of guys in dark clothes with facial hair. As a result, it is impossible to know who is doing what or even where or when the event is taking place.
Even the discernable scenes are full of mediocre actors playing trite stereotypes. There is practically no character development, and even the characters that seem slightly developed often do irrational things for no apparent reason.
The true icing on the "September Dawn" cake is the 20-minute scene where they vividly show all the innocent women and children getting shot, stabbed, bludgeoned and generally being treated in ways that are best left to the imagination. It seems the desired effect was to hammer home the true brutality of the Mormons in the same way that Steven Spielberg showed the viciousness of the Nazi's in "Schindler's List." While it worked for Spielberg, Cain was not so lucky, and instead of invoking reverence, this scene only invokes disgust.
From start to finish, "September Dawn" is filmmaking at its worst. The fact that a film so obviously lacking in substance and so full of propaganda makes it likely that its financing came from someone who really doesn't want Mitt Romney winning the presidency in 2008.
"September Dawn" is rated R for violence.
I give it one out of five pitchforks.
Reach the reporter at: zach.richter@asu.edu.
